Rain Angel
by Darker Aria
Summary: When Jade found Cat in the rain, she learned that Cat has a secret that turned even her parents against her. While trying to figure out that secret, she also has to figure out her own feelings for Cat that seem to come out of nowhere. First Cade fanfic.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. I doubt anyone on this site has ever owned anything that they write about unless they are ninjas.**

**A/N: This is just the opening of the story, a nice little beginning to set the mood and the situation. I would like reviews and regardless, I will post the second chapter tomorrow since I already have it written. It is way longer than this Introduction so I am hoping that people read and like and review (more reviews tend to bring in more readers and also help improve my skills :D). I promise not to give up on this story and will finish it until the end!...unless no one is interested ):. Hope it is though :D**

**Enjoy:**

Jade POV

The sound of rubber screeching against pavement woke me from my slumber. I bolted upright, too stunned to be mad at the rude awakening, and turned on the light. It was raining like hell. Great. Lighting brightened up the sky through my shades, thunder following quickly in a mighty roar. I came to my senses and would've enjoyed the weather if it weren't for the fact that a screech of a girl was heard right by my house.

"Damnit," I muttered, forcing my combat boots over my pants and hoodie over my head. No one else was in the house and if anyone died close by, it would be over my head. I really would've liked to just leave that girl out there. If she was stupid enough to get caught in the storm then fate should do whatever it needs to. But logic overruled self-righteousness.

I grabbed a flashlight and rushed out the door, wanting to get this over with. It was worse actually being outside than just hearing what was happening. The wind was rushing as if it were from a tornado and the power of the lightning and thunder wasn't being joked. I almost regretted ever coming out into the mess.

Almost.

I ran to the road and neared the area where I first heard the screams. I couldn't even see anything with the flashlight. The wind threw my hair everywhere, even wearing the hoodie, and rain was being forced onto my face. I was already drenched.

"Is anybody here?" I screamed into the wind. "Hello?"

I searched around the road, wiping the hair away from my face every few seconds. I barely saw the skid marks from whatever made the screeching rubber earlier but there was no other clue that anyone was around. Not like the rain made it any easier to see.

It was so stupid being out here, saving the ass of someone who was dumb enough to even be caught in the rain, and my feet were ready to turn back around when I heard a whimper of the girl.

"Hello!" I yelled again and rushed to the sound. It was coming from a couple of bushes just off of the road.

I kneeled down and frantically searched through the brush to find a the very girl who's screams I heard earlier. Thank whatever powerful being that I did come out of my save house to search for this person at this God-forsaken time.

The person in the bushes was Cat.


	2. Broken Doll

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious for if I did I would be making this story an actual episode.**

**A/N: Like I promised, here is the second chapter :D. It is much longer than the Introduction and I am happy that people have read the first chapter and want to read more :D This inspires me. Also, I have realized that asking for reviews does as much as asking for money, not much. So, if you want to review, I would be happy, but this is the last time I will mention it. And one last thing, I am in school so there is schoolwork that I must do which may put off my writing but I have a WebDesign class that I do absolutely nothing in so I will be writing then. With that being said, I am hoping to post chapters every Friday or before, at least once a week, because I know how I hate waiting so you readers probably hate that too.**

**Ok. I am done being talkative. Enjoy :D**

"Cat!" I screamed. It surprised me how fearful I actually was when barely anything scared me. Scary movies? Nothing. The threat of a bomber at school? Makes me laugh. But seeing Cat there in the bushes, her velvety red hair a clumped mess, everything soaked, her clothing cut and ripped, possible signs of blood, all of that made my legs give out and I slumped to the ground in front of the poor girl.

Cat's deep, brown eyes opened slightly and focused on my face.

"Jade…" she croaked before closing her eyes again.

I almost teared up at the sight of her like this. Not Cat. Not sweet, innocent Cat that no matter what anybody said, she would ignore them and stay in her happy place. She's the only person I know that never let life keep her down. But Cat, here in such an unhappy place, where she clearly did not belong. This was my world, not hers. She doesn't deserve to be anywhere near this place.

Those thoughts gave me the strength to keep in the tears and pull her body out of the bushes. It took a few minutes but I had to make sure, for my own sake, that she was still alive. I sprawled her out on the ground as the rain continued to batter both of our bodies and I laid one ear on her chest. The magical sounds of a heartbeat raised my spirits and I realized that never before have I ever been so happy to hear a rhythm.

Content for the time being that she was still alive, I dragged Cat to my house, cursing the weather multiple times, and finally slammed the door closed.

Once she was on my conveniently placed couch, I took a good look at her. She was still soaked, which wasn't good at all for her immune system and I actually felt so much pity for the girl, which I never feel at all. What was happening to me? One freak night and I turn from comfortably careless to whacked up worried? I mean, Cat's different than the rest of them, I have to admit. If people actually looked, they would see that I'm not as rough with her. She's delicate, like a flower. At this moment though, she looked like a broken doll.

"Cat…" I whispered, and stroked her damp cheek. It was cold to the touch and a thought that swam through my brain made me blush scarlet. Her clothes were going to have to be changed otherwise she might get sick.

I sighed and lifted the girl muttering, "Okay, Caterina. Time for a bath."

Getting Cat in the tub was much harder than it may sound. I'm pretty strong, but the girl didn't help, being passed out and all, so dragging her was much better than lifting and dumping her into the warm water. It's a good thing that Cat woke up when she touched the water, otherwise I would've left her there because I didn't think that I could've gotten her back out.

"Hey Cat," I casually said to her with a smirk, leaning against the sink as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Jade? Where-where am I?" Cat looked around in her confused way, as if she didn't realize that she was in a bathroom.

"My house. I have no idea how you got here but you were stuck in the freezing storm so I made a nice bath for you."

"A bath!" Cat freaked out and her cheeks turned red as she searched around her body. The heat in her face calmed down when she realized that she still had her clothes on. What can I say? It was either I wasted energy on the clothes or dragging her to the bath.

"Calm down. I didn't see anything I shouldn't have. You can change when I leave the room, anyways." I turned my head to the pile of clothes that I picked out for her. "You should clean up, though. You're a mess."

"What's that supposed to mean…" she said half-heartedly. It was obvious that she was exhausted. The broken doll thought appeared in my head again and I wanted to just hold her against my body, as if I was a good shield from the badness of the world. I shook off the thoughts and returned to seriousness.

"You're just really dirty and I think you cut yourself in places. So, really, you have to wash up or you're not staying the night." I tried to ease up on the comment but also tried to stay firm. I still needed to be Jade, no matter who it was in my bathtub.

"Jade," Cat's eyes looked straight into mine and my heart warmed for a second without any warning. The warmth worried me about what I actually was feeling. "My arms hurt. I can't really move them."

I let out a soft sigh. The fact that she still needed to take her clothes off had to pop into my mind.

"Your clothes, Cat," I said as I looked away from her, partly ashamed that I was still thinking about what may lie under the clothes.

"You can leave on my bra and panties," she noted quite happily, as if it was such a good idea to leave on such little clothing. But her skin and cuts needed to be attended to. I didn't even understand why this was all so hard to do. We're best friends. Wasn't it not all that crazy to see a best friend in only panties and a bra? She had the same things I did, anyways. I still didn't know why it was a problem. Maybe…maybe I cared more than I thought I did about Cat. Maybe…

"Fine," I let out finally. Without another second to waste, I kneeled down by the tub and took off her soaked shirt. It was heavy, but it would've been difficult to take off beforehand, also. I was extremely careful when it came to lifting it over her head and noted the caution. If it was anyone else, I probably would've tugged it off. But it was Cat. Why must Cat be so different from everyone else?

As I was pulling off her pants, she started to become more animated, telling me another crazy story about her brother.

"…and we were at the ice cream stand because my brother knows that I love ice cream. The ice cream man didn't want to give us any, so my brother tried to take it from him and the ice cream man then beat my brother up. It's okay though, he still got me my ice cream. Strawberry flavored. He was in a bad shape, but he got better."

"Your brother seriously sounds like a stunt man from everything he's gone through," I told her. I couldn't believe that I actually paid attention to the random stories that she tells us. Normally, we all tend to just nod our heads and pretend we're listening. I know Vega never listens. That stupid girl wouldn't even pretend just to save Cat's feelings. Now that I was actually listening, the stories seemed so far fetched that if it actually happened, I wouldn't doubt that Cat's mind is a little off. It would explain a lot. Plus, the girl is telling these things like she actually witnessed them up close and personal. Not even I would try out all the crazy shit that her brother did.

"It's not his fault. Bad things just happen to him. Like bad things happen to the poor birds in China. Did you know that there aren't any birds there because the Chinese eat them all? That's so mean! The birds deserve to live there just as much as people do."

"Cat rewind for a second." I had been washing her hair out with conditioner, noticing how nice the red hair felt between my hands when the words _bad things_ popped out in her comments. "Going back to bad things happening, it was a pretty bad thing that I found you in my bushes earlier. What were you even doing there in the first place?"

Cat was quiet. My hands stopped running themselves through her hair as I anticipated her response. The quietness definitely said that whatever happened, it wasn't good. And there aren't many things that aren't good in Cat's world.

"My parents were unhappy with me…" Cat finally whispered, placing her finger on a slight cut that had been above the water to stop the blood from leaking, then taking it off to let the tiny bit of blood bleed some more. She didn't have to move her arm because it was right there, but the site worried me a little. She didn't even mind the blood when she normally freaks at every little drop in a horror film.

"Why?" I asked, so in tune with what she's saying.

"I…I can't say," she made sure not to look at me. It must've been bad. "But I can say that they ran me out of the house. They didn't even let me pack anything. They just yelled and yelled and they opened the door and I ran for it. I didn't know where else to go, Jade. You're the only person that I trust…"

I completely stopped cleaning her up and just kept my hands intertwined in her hair. Cat's parents weren't all that bad. I've been to her house plenty of times before and, although they disapprove of me completely, they weren't nearly as bad as mine. They didn't even get pissed off mad when I started to cut up a ratty doll of Cat's because it looked way too childish for even Cat to have.

I was about to try a comment but Cat then continued in her same hushed tone.

"I didn't know how bad it was raining until I got outside but I knew that my parents wouldn't let me back in. You should've seen their faces, Jade. They were so angry. They never get so angry with me. And I didn't even do something bad or illegal. I just ran and it was so windy and it was thundering so bad that I tripped a couple of times and I almost ran into a speeding truck." That explained the screeching rubber. "The truck barely missed me. Gosh, Jade, I was so scared. It almost hit me. The feeling of the truck and the banging of the thunder and lightning caused me to fall again and I hit my head so I tried standing up and running to the nearest house. The wind kept pushing me in so many directions. I had no control. I was so scared that I was crying and…I guess I just fell into your bushes. I thought that I saw someone's house light on so I started yelling for help. I guess it did the trick. But I'm so sorry about your bushes, Jade. I didn't mean to…"

"Shh. It's not your fault. I'd never be mad at you over some stupid bushes." I was more mad about the possibility that the bushes hurt her. I was actually thinking about cutting the bushes for hurting Cat. Really, I should question my own sanity.

"But-"

"Cat," I interrupted. "It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay. Now close your eyes, I'm gonna wash you off."

Cat did as told and I rinsed off her body, watching how the suds from her hair rolled down her body like a waterfall, leaving her body glistening. Besides the cuts and scrapes, she looked so much better than the broken doll that I found before. But she was still vulnerable.

Cat sighed happily and I shut off the water, letting myself have one last look at her glowing body while hiding the stupid blush that I could just feel coming.

"Okay. Out of the water," I commanded. I had to stay in control. I couldn't let feelings that were just jumping out of nowhere stand in my way.

I had to help her out because of how weak her body was and I just let her lay down in my bed in the other room, not even bothering to put the other clothes on. She wasn't really wearing anything anyways so the warmth of the blanket should overrule the wetness of the underclothes.

Cat already had her eyes closed by the time I pulled the blankets up to her chin and I was able to hear a soft sound coming from her nose. She looked cute while she slept.

Wait, what am I thinking? All these thoughts about being cute and protecting her. I guess I've always felt like I needed to protect her but today, seeing her in such a broken form, that feeling grew stronger. And other feelings were just popping up out of nowhere. I swear, if any more feelings decide to join the party, I might as well kill myself because right now there's way too many.

I was about to exit the door while thinking about the philosophy of why feelings exist and almost missed probably the most confusing thing I have ever heard Cat say.

"I love you, Jade."


	3. Over Dramatization

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious, which I do not, I would be making Cade the main people of the entire show because it is just too awesome.**

**A/N: OK. I just wanted to get this out quickly because I wrote a lot during school and I was just excited and happy. I don't know about anyone else, but last episode's Victorious made me get a nice crush on Jade. Her singing is amazing. I honestly don't know why I watch the show or read fanfics either (as a comment to one of the reviews that I've gotten ;) ) but this is my obsession at the moment and I am hoping that readers like it (:. I know that it is slow at first, but I need to build up the plot. It will get more interesting, I promise (:. **

Those four words forced me to whip my body around and find the sight of Cat snoozing in my bed.

_What the hell?_ I thought to myself. Cat didn't just sleep talk those words. She couldn't. It must've been in my head. It had to be in my head. Did Cat even sleep talk?

I walked over to the sleeping girl and analyzed her. Eyes closed, chest moving up and down in a rhythmic motion. The girl was definitely sleeping or she was as good of an actress as she said she was.

"Cat…?" I whispered to her, thinking that she might respond and explain whether I'm going crazy or not. There was absolutely no reply from her, no even when I lightly touched her arm.

Anger started to build up in me. Damn it, Cat. What are you doing to me? Making me go nuts and actually feel things? That's. Not. Me. I'd rather go play with fire and laugh maniacally as it spreads. I'd love to see the terrified faces of firefighters as they try to put what I'd make out. But _shit_ Cat! You're making me not want to do that and instead go through the torture of watching a sappy romance flick.

I groaned out loud and placed a hand on my head in an attempt to stop the thoughts. This was aggravating and stupid. I just needed to forget that this ever happened and things would go back to normal.

I trudged out of the room and took out a pair of scissors from my pants, for I always kept a pair on me, and planned to cut up the nearest thing available. I _must_ forget that this happened.

Sunlight was the cause for me to be awakened this time around. My body tried to wake itself but I ended up sitting up groggily. The first thing that I noticed was that I wasn't in my room. Instead, I was on the floor in a pile of shredded items.

"I must've had a fun night," I muttered. Silly me hadn't even bothered to take off my soaked clothes or boots. I wouldn't be surprised if I got sick later.

The thought of my soaked clothes took me back to what happened last night and I cursed myself for repeating the thoughts and memories from before.

"Goddamn brain, shut up!" I found my scissors that I had used to make the mess and stabbed the carpet forcefully, dragging the metal up towards me so it made a nice hole in the floor. My parents wouldn't care. They never cared. If they found it, they would just punish me like always and then forget it ever happened, as if they were always drunk, which I would not doubt at all.

Although I would love to punish my brain for recalling things I wanted to erase, it reminded me that I needed to check up on Sleeping Beauty.

"Knock knock." I tapped on the door. There was no sound to be heard on the other side. Cat wasn't answering me and I didn't feel like waiting for her to wake herself up. Just because I was kind to her doesn't mean that I was patient.

I barged in the room to find the place completely empty of human life. The bed that had previously kept a certain red-haired girl warm was now empty but neat with the covers tucked in the sides and the pillows organized in a way that one would find in a hotel room. Cat had ditched me.

"That little bitch," I commented to myself while smirking. I was surprised yet impressed that that innocent little airhead slipped out the window through the night with no mess or sound. Maybe there really were secrets as bad as she said there were. If Cat had the ability to be a ninja and sneak out, then she was someone worth noticing. "She is definitely full of surprises."

I shook my head as I went over to the opened window that Cat obviously escaped out of and closed it gently, still smirking.

"Alright! Welcome back, you group of crazy adolescents!" Sikowitz seemed overexcited this morning as he raised his arms over his head, a coconut in one hand, of course. "Today, we will be exploring the concept of over dramatization. The stuff that, if used correctly, can make a scene be more pronounced. But if used incorrectly, can make you look stupid and shallow. Okay, who wants to go first?"

The classroom seemed to be less active than usual and it didn't take long for me to realize why; that perky redhead was nowhere to be seen.

"Jade. Tori. Why don't you two be the first to over dramatize a normally boring scene?"

Sikowitz's statement caused me to jump to my feet from the anger that quickly coursed through my body.

"Me and Tori!" I stared at Sikowitz intently, forcing my eyes to burn into his soul. "What is with you and pairing me up with that scumbag?"

"Now, Jade, isn't it obvious that you two are perfect candidates to show off extreme drama?"

"Come on, Jade," Tori said with her disgusting hand touching my shoulder. "We have enough practice to get through this perfectly."

"Hands off, Vega." My eyes quickly switched to burn Tori's soul, making the gaze even more threatening.

"Do it or I'll be forced to give you an F." Sikowitz's voice was heard behind me but I refused to look at him.

"Fine." Tori had already retreated her hand with slight fear in her eyes. Perfect.

We both mounted the stage; Tori, her annoyingly preppy self and me, bored, one hand on my side and staring at nothing in particular.

"Tori, start us off," Sikowitz commanded.

Tori faced me and after thinking a second made her expression filled with rage and yelled at me, "Where the hell is Cat?"

My body froze from being stunned. For no reason at all, my emotions changed from being annoyed to feeling guilt. I definitely wasn't the only one who noticed her absence, but I was the last person that saw her. It wasn't normal for Cat to miss school at all, either.

I tried to remain uncaring but the guilt was slowly making itself in my system, "I…I don't know."

It was true; I had no clue where Cat was and it seemed like it was my fault. Maybe if I woke up earlier, I could have caught her before she escaped. Maybe if I actually locked my damn windows that are normally unlocked because nobody would be stupid enough to break into my house, Cat wouldn't have had an easy way out.

"Why don't you know, Jade? She's always with you. She's YOUR responsibility!" Tori screamed at me, pointing an accusing finger in my face, making her character stronger and more in charge than mine. Tori is _not_ supposed to be the one with the upper hand here.

In retaliation, I quickly angered up to yell back, "Vega! She is as much of a responsibility to you as she is to everyone else! As a matter of fact, she can take care of herself. Why don't YOU know where she is?"

I stepped forward towards Vega in tough steps, causing her to walk backwards. Her accusing finger was replaced with warding hands. This felt great! Being able to take control over Tori, being able to express myself in a way in which no one could protect Vega.

"You really think she can take care of herself?" Vega started her comeback. I could just see the bravery she was trying to attempt by clutching her fists and forcing them to her sides. Silly girl, it'll take much more than bravery to stand up to me.

"You really think that Cat can ward off rapists? Kidnappers? Know enough street-smarts to avoid getting into danger? She doesn't even have the guts to punch a guy if her life de-pend-ed on it." Tori was talking to me as if she was trying to teach a child that eating glue was bad. Her hands were clenched by her face, now, giving the signs that she'd like to hit me but knew better. "You're the one that's supposed to protect her, Jade!"

That sentence echoed in my head and the feelings of anger lightened up a little. Was the really true? I protected her last night from the storm and so many other times I would have punched someone for her if they hurt that poor girl. But the fact that Vega appointed me all of the blame when she had a good role in chasing Cat away by being not as attentive and friendly brought fire to my eyes.

"Shut up, Tori!"

Everyone was silent at my sudden outburst. Even though we had been yelling the entire time, this one scream outshone them all. I wouldn't have let the tear drop from my eye but I allowed it because 1. We were acting and 2. It makes Tori the bad guy.

"I have no idea where she is," I exasperated. "I feel bad, okay? If anything were to happen to Cat…I…I…"

I think that I had every eye in the house. I never show my weak side, even in acting. It surely should've been a show, had I been watching myself.

"But I'm right here."

If this was a race, my eyes would've won first place to beating everyone when looking towards the very person Vega and I were arguing about.

"Cat…" I unconsciously whispered as glee filled my body. I had no idea why I was so happy that the velvety childish girl was standing at the doorway, looking as confused as ever, but I didn't care. Cat gave me hope.

While everyone was looking back and forth from Cat to Tori and I, Sikowitz was clapping with enthusiasm.

"Wonderful display! Great work at over dramatizing such a simple conversation. You both made the fact that Cat was only late to class seem like she was actually missing from the face of the earth!" If Cat was actually missing from the face of the earth, I would go on a murderous rampage. "Wonderful! Now sit down so someone else can perform. Beck. Robbie. Your turn!"

I looked at Sikowitz with disbelief. Did he really not see the tension that was happening between Vega and me? Was that tension even real? I looked towards Vega to see her looking at me with confusion. Possibly she also thought that my acting was a bit…too good. I quickly turned away with disgust. It was Tori's damn fault for picking the subject and I could also feel Beck's gaze. Beck didn't need to know anything about what was going on.

"Jade, where are you going?" Sikowitz's annoying voice echoed across the entire room. I didn't even notice that I was about to exit the room until he pointed it out.

"Bathroom." I proceeded to exit out the door and actually walked to the bathroom. It was deserted because it was the middle of a class period so I had the comfortable silence to myself. I went into a stall, sat on the floor, took out a nicely sharpened pair of scissors, and began scraping against the stall door.

What exactly did happen back there? Tori was…Tori but I didn't even fight back like I normally would've. What was Cat doing to me? Ever since yesterday, she's all that I thought about. She never even affected my emotions before. Or did she? I can't lie saying that I never thought her presence was happy. She was always a bubbling spark of crazy giddiness. Sometimes it even wore off on me. But do I…do I like her? Is that why she's affecting me so much? I like Beck. Love him even. Or do I? He doesn't make me as happy anymore as Cat has been for all the time that I've known her. And the thought of Cat missing…I couldn't even imagine it. That is one pain that I never want to go through, and I've been through them all.

"Cat, what're you doing to me…?" I asked myself quietly.

"What am I doing to you?"

I jumped back from carving the door and hit the toilet seat behind me. Disgusting.

"Cat?"

"Yes?" I finally noticed her shoes on the other side of the door and yanked the door open to find a curious Cat looking right at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still surprised.

"I followed you. You didn't look very happy. Then when you were in here, I heard you doing something on the door so I decided to wait until you were done."

"Cat, I just…" I couldn't find the right words to say. She only smiled at me and my heart began to flutter without sense to it.

Cat then looked at me as if she were contemplating something and out of nowhere, she leaned in and pecked me on the lips.

She was gone before I could say her name.


	4. Scarily Beautiful

**Disclaimer: If I owned this show, there would be no need to put a disclaimer claiming that I don't.**

**A/N: OK! New one up. If anyone actually reads this, my goal now is to make this a weekly thing, not a hopefully more than once a week or something. I want to do it every Wednesday because Wednesday is normally the middle day that no one really likes because it's so far from the weekend and it just seems to be the day that sucks to everybody. I'm posting today because I can. Also, I wanted the chapters to be more lengthier. I mean, if you gotta wait, why not have something worth waiting for, right? So, we got Wednesday, longer chapters, oh! Explanation. It's close to Halloween and I do so happen to like that holiday so I figured why not add something Halloweenie(y?)? It helps move the plot more forward, anyways. **

**Alright, I'll shut up now. Rated M because I tend to curse and I am planning on making scenes that should not be rated T ;). ENJOY!**

My fingers unconsciously felt over the area that was still warm from Cat's lips. It took a second or two for the event to sink in.

"What the hell?" I murmured to myself.

I kneeled down to pick up the fallen scissors that I didn't even know I dropped and walked back to class in a daze. Not even acknowledging that stares that I got when I reentered the class, I sat down next to Beck and just kept my eyes straight ahead, looking at nothing.

"What up, babe?"

I didn't bother to turn to Beck even when he wrapped his fingers around mine. The warmth from his hand had no effect against the heat that was still plastered on my lips. I never even saw it coming. A little girl who no one would've ever questioned had a secret agenda.

"Jade?"

"What?" I accidentally snapped at him.

"Is something wrong…?" Beck questioned cautiously.

"Does something look wrong? No? If something were wrong I'd post it on a social network like every other emotional teenager."

"Uhm…Okay, Jade." Beck took his hand back and I let him. Nothing was wrong. Cat must've been experimenting. Yeah, that's it. Logical enough. People experiment at this age, right? Then maybe Cat was only curious. Was I curious? Am I curious? I didn't even know how I felt about it.

"Hey Jade, would you like to partner up-"

"Go away, Sinjin!" The sandy haired freak hovered over me like an animal, his desperate face too close to mine. The fact that this kid messed up my thinking enraged me. I never get any privacy to myself, do I?

"I was only wondering if you'd like to buddy up for the Halloween Fest."

"Halloween Fest?" An idea came to mind that anything scary can get my thoughts away from my previous predicament.

"Yeah, Jade," Beck jumped into the conversation. "Had you been listening to Sikowitz, you would've heard about our mandatory involvement in the Fest. We have to provide a haunted house this year."

"That is correct, Beck." And now creepy Sikowitz somehow landed himself into this used to be silent moment. "People are expecting amazing things from us, and we must give the people what they want! Plus, Jade, you are probably a pro at producing the best scary environment Hollywood has ever seen."

"No one should doubt that." A sinister smile crept onto my face as visions of a perfect haunted house were thought up.

"But it can't be too scary, right? We could add a rainbow or two to keep things more happy-like." I paused at the sound of Cat's voice attempting to lighten up things. At that moment, I decided to make things as scary as possible to get rid of anything that would remind me of happiness. Happiness only makes me think of Cat and thinking of her makes my brain hurt.

I glowered at the thought of a rainbow next to a pool of blood.

"No stupid rainbows," I commanded. I could just feel her eyes on me. I really wished I knew what she was thinking but knowing her, she was her normal ditzy self. "We are going to need a lot of blood, great make-up artists, and very few lights. I can just see it now…"

"I can do make-up!"

"Cat, you can't make someone look scary if your life depended on it." I still kept my eyes away from her and tried to add some of my meanness in my reply. I didn't want anyone to know that I actually would spare her feelings more than the others. I also didn't want her to think that I was over thinking what happened in the bathroom.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She whined her catchphrase.

I sighed and turned to her, knowing that she had to be included somehow, and said, "Okay, fine. You can do make-up. Just do make-up with someone that actually knows how to make someone look threatening."

"Kaykay." And just like that, her attention was elsewhere.

"I can make the scary music,"André added.

"Good. You do that." One less person to worry about.

"What can I do?" Vega asked. Just her asking me such a stupid question irritated me. If she was so perfect then couldn't she figure out a damn job to do?

Then an idea came to mind and I grinned evilly at her.

"You can be the victim," I stated.

Tori gave me her look of disbelief. "The victim? Why the victim? I could scare someone if I wanted to."

The comment made me laugh. Vega? Scary? I was pretty sure that more people wanted to see her close to death than her popping out of a coffin and yelling "boo". Then again, her attempts would be comical, but would ruin the haunted house.

"_Oh, but I wouldn't hurt a fly, sweet innocent me._" It seemed like a perfect moment to use that southern bell alter ego that I bet she thinks herself of.

"I. Do not. SOUND LIKE THAT!" Her aggravation made me smile more in pride.

"Oh you fucking do, sweetheart." I turned away from her, happy that I made her day just a little more horrible.

"Ok, so this is what we're going to do," I started to explain. All thoughts of problems were now way out of my head.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we put Jade in charge of this."<p>

"Quiet Vega!" I snapped. Vega had been complaining the entire time about what we had been doing. _There's too much blood. This thing would scar little children for life. You're going to kill someone in here._ "If we had it your way, this house would be a laughingstock, not something that would enter your pretty little nightmares."

She only looked at me without any smart comeback and went back to what she was doing. I knew she didn't have it in her to fight against me.

At this point in time, the Fest was tomorrow and almost every day for two weeks we had been working on the House. I instructed everyone on how it should be created, and there were a lot of people being included in this. I didn't even have to participate in the actual event if I didn't want to, but there aren't many opportunities to scare the living daylights out of people and not be criticized about it.

Of course, I tried to keep as far enough distance from Cat as I could. I still had no idea how I felt about her and just being near her made me unable to think straight. She had someone teaching her how to correctly paint someone's face with deformity but, at least from what I've seen, she was really uncomfortable doing it. It seemed like the whole not-caring-about-gore thing had passed. Not that I was paying any special attention to her…Besides, she had to be included somehow and there was no way I'd let her actually be involved in scaring people. She'd probably scare herself.

"How're the creatures?" I asked Robbie as I strolled over to him.

"Why don't you tell me?" he questioned back, trying to sound cool but oh, so horribly failed. I only stared at him, unamused, and he shyly turned away and pressed a button on the wall.

"Walk over there," he instructed and I did so.

I felt the trap on the floor just a second before the wall to my side opened up and a horrific, disintegrating human jumped out and retreated, a curdling scream echoing the hallway.

It didn't faze me at all. In fact, I laughed at the thought that this would scare a lot of people because no one would see it coming.

"This is actually really good. Are there a lot of them in this place?"

Robbie looked at me, smiling that he had done something right.

"They are all over the place. The tech class was given extra credit for making them and they worked together with the art kids to make them look and act like that. We have so many that are well functioning that they're actually going to sell them after this."

"Perfect." A smile crept onto my face. If all went well, this event would leave a mark on people for the rest of their lives.

* * *

><p>"Costumes."<p>

"Check."

"Masks."

"Check."

"Coffee."

"Coffee?" André looked at me as if I were crazy.

"Yeah, coffee. When am I ever without my coffee?"

"Uhm…" André was uncertain.

"Exactly. Now go fetch me some."

Besides me being deprived of my coffee, everything was going as planned. The sun was dipping behind the horizon as we spoke and people were arriving to the Fest with their own pathetic costumes on. I took the liberty of making my own clothing. Wasn't hard. The few cuts that I got from making it would make a fine addition to the overall appearance.

With André gone, I changed clothes easily and quickly. I checked in the mirror before I went to makeup for finishing touches but paused at my reflection. I was dressed in just a tattered dark burgundy dress. At parts, you can clearly see my pale skin, and at others you can notice a darker shade of red that was supposed to be blood. Without any terrifying add ons, I could honestly say that I looked sexy. Take my head of out the picture and I would surely do myself.

Wait.

What?

Do myself?

I placed a hand on my head in aggravation. I had to monsterfy this outfit before I thought even worse things.

Without another look in the mirror, I quickly walked out of the room and into an area where everyone was being prepped before show time.

"Jade, how do I look?" Vega skipped over to me, her makeup completed. She looked…gruesome. I smiled. Her hair was frizzed all crazy and wild. Makeup was smudged on her face. Her dress was white and bloody and ripped and ruined and I had to keep in a laugh at how horrible she looked. I needed to find the person that did her makeup and high five them because they did a wonderful job.

"You look beautiful," I smirked, completely giving away the fact that I was lying.

"Really?" She looked at me hopeful and I wanted to smack her because of it. The damn girl didn't know sarcasm if it was in the form of a train and hit her.

"Hell no. You look so shitty that you're way past pitiful. What area did I assign you again?"

Her expression dropped and she started to become angry at me. I didn't care that she was mad that I insulted her. Boo hoo. Poor little Tori couldn't take criticism.

"I'm in the chop-saw area. André is going to 'cut me in half' and I'm supposed to scream for mercy." She used air quotes as if to inquire that it was fake. If only I gave André a real saw and he accidentally slipped…

"Why the hell are you dressed like that?"

"I'm supposed to be a bride and André is supposed to be the fiancée that turned murderous and went all psycho on me. Great story by the way. Really makes sense." She tried to use sarcasm against me. Stupid girl couldn't hear sarcasm but made it so obvious when she used it.

"Oh yeah. That's right. I don't get why you don't like it. It's such a wonderful tale to describe your life."

"Sure. It's such a perfectly loving tale. Why are you dressed up as if you were jumped while trying to be a stripper?"

"Maybe because I was." I still had my smirk on as I saw Vega frown at my answer. "Just wait until I get my makeup on and I'll look more menacing."

"You're not wearing makeup?" Vega smiled again and I shot daggers at her. My fist was about to make her makeup look more real but a hand grabbed mine and forced me to stop.

"Come on, Jade. It's your turn."

The hand didn't need to stop me because the voice had me frozen.

"What are you doing, Cat?"

"I'm in charge of your makeup." She smiled at me with so much glee that I questioned whether she was kidding or not.

"No seriously, what are you doing here?"

"I told you. I was put in charge of making you all scary." I let her drag me away from Vega to a secluded area. Cat placed me in an empty chair in front of a mirror and she stood in front of me. For the first time that night, I saw what Cat was dressed like.

She was also in a costume. Camouflage covered her clothes. Once again, she was wearing her normal too short shorts. Her shirt was also camo but there was so little of it that it only covered her boobs and part of her stomach. She was also wearing black combat boots. They weren't mine, I knew of that, but it was so unlike her that I was surprised. Of course, her clothing was stained with blood and there was blood painted on her tan body to look like she's been through hell, but I was so impressed and the word that came to mind was scarily beautiful. It was actually as if we both changed roles. She was bad ass and I was innocent. Once the makeup was on though, I would be in league with her. I guess we both had the idea of luring in victims with beauty and then go in for the killing, but I couldn't even imagine Cat killing a fly.

"Wow," I mouthed slightly. I looked at her eyes and she looked back, her expression pretty much telling me that she saw how I was checking her out.

"Are you ready?" She asked cheerful, acting completely different than how she looked.

"I thought you were only assigned to do makeup."

"I wanted to explore the place, too, and I didn't want to go in normal clothes so I'm in a costume, like you guys. Do you like it?"

"Well, uh, yeah, Cat. I do like it." Her smile grew bigger, if it even could, and she turned around to get her equipment.

I tried to stay still when she started to apply tones and paint to my face. It was hard, though, with her being so close to me. I felt as if I was surrounded by some kind of brain-cell killing gas. My heart was beating faster than normal. My breathing was actually trying to be controlled which no one ever thinks about, they just breathe. And for the thousandth time, I questioned to myself what was going on.

"Hey, Jade?" Cat interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I think you look beautiful."

The comment caused my heartbeat to race even faster.

"W-what?"

"I think you look beautiful," she repeated. "The dress is very elegant. It's too bad that it's all cut up and bloody."

I reran the words through my head. Beautiful? Friends call each other beautiful, right? But friends don't think of it anything other than a simple compliment.

I wanted tonight to be Cat-free. I wanted it to be horrible, creepy, scare-me-to-death terrifying. The whole point of this was to be a huge distraction from this person who makes me go crazy. It was as if I was fighting a battle that I was planning to lose anyways, but I still fought, so I had to act like a normal Jade.

It didn't help at all that the feeling of her painting me was making my senses react.

"Well, I'm hoping that this makeup makes me look less beautiful and more threatening."

"I doubt that it would conceal the beauty…" she murmured to herself, moving down my body to add effects to the skin with the light touch of the brush. I had to strain to hear what she said, but it was there.

"What?" I questioned, hoping she would say it louder.

"Nothing. You're almost done." Her change of topic definitely hid something but I went along with it.

"Good. By the way, Cat, if you made me look anything near a happy princess, I am not going act like one."

She giggled before she replied, "I didn't. Don't worry. Did you know that most fairytales aren't even that happy? The ones for kids were just changed from something bad to something more friendly. With Disney, they took all those animated movies and changed what happened so it would be more appropriate. Like with the Little Mermaid, Ariel dies in the end. And in Cinderella, people cut off part of their feet so that they would fit into the glass slipper."

I opened my eyes and looked at Cat. She actually knew about gory things like in Cinderella? When I learned about that, I started to like the story because of how stupid all of those women were. They were all desperate for fame and glory and as a result, karma got the best of them and they permanently lost part of their foot. It slightly worried me that Cat would just say that fact all Cat-like and happy. She was slowly going from clean, scared Cat to something…different.

Thinking about that brought up the memory of her saying that her parents kicked her out of the house for something. I didn't even think about where she lived now, if that were true. What kind of friend am I? Better question, when did I start caring about what kind of friend I am?

"Cat, is something happening to you?" I asked her, making sure that I stared at her so I see how she felt using her facial expressions.

She thought for a second, making sure to avoid my gaze, and then looked back at me with complete seriousness.

"Yes."

That was it, just a one word answer. No explanation, nothing. If I wasn't talking to Cat, I would've been angered at that answer.

"What?"

"I…" she looked away again. "I still can't tell you. But soon. Hey, do you want to hang out with me before the House is open?"

I didn't want to hurt her feelings and I considered the fact that maybe if we did, I could get more information out of her. Unfortunately, my heartbeat was still as fast as ever and every word that she said drew me in. I never noticed how lovely her voice was. Her singing is no doubt phenomenal but I never really thought about it before.

I mentally slapped myself. _Get it together, Jade. You now have a mission to find out whatever secret that Cat is hiding._

I took a breath and answered, "Sure."

She beamed at me and did the finishing touches with her brush, teasing the skin as she lightly stroked areas of my face.

"Kaykay, done."

Cat moved from being in front of me and I looked in the mirror to find my features distorted. Cat actually made it so that I was still beautiful, but so beautiful that it was scary. My eyes were darkened to allow the blueness of them to stand out. My cheekbones looked more arched. My lips were a wild red and seemed as if they were bleeding.

"This is amazing, Cat."

She giggled and smiled at me. Now that my makeup was on, whoever approached us ought to think twice because we looked like we could take on anyone.

"Let's go, Jade. I want to show you something."

Cat grabbed my arm and led me out of the makeup area.


	5. Little Pink Pill

**Disclaimer: If I owned this show then I would definitely change a lot of things about it (*cough* kill Tori *cough*)**

**A/N: As promised, this is out on Wednesday. I really wanted it to be longer but I just didn't have the time and if there are mistakes that you notice and are annoyed by, I am very sorry but I just couldn't read through it and fix them. I know I have a tendency to make "awkward phrasing" and was going to fix them but, and I know it's a lame excuse, today is my birthday and my schedule was full. I will have more time to write for next time so for now...I hope you like it (:. **

"Over here," the redhead whispered and continued to crouch along the side of the House.

"Why are we acting like we're sneaking into a place we aren't supposed to be?" I questioned her while stopping in my tracks because I didn't want to continue looking ridiculous.

"Because it's fun," she simply answered and giggled. Really, there is no way you can hate this girl no matter how hard you tried.

"Okay, Cat. What did you want to show me?"

She placed a fingers to her lips, giving me a signal to stay quiet, and then ran behind the wall while giggling a little more. I stayed where I was and sighed. Cat was dressed like she was ready for war but she definitely didn't act like it. Then again, her acts alone wouldn't make anyone want to shoot her. It would be like kicking an innocent puppy; only a masochist or psychopath would even dare to do something like that, maybe even me, but not to Cat.

Time continued to move and my patience was wearing thin. The sound of my nails tapping against the wall started to annoy me. Finally, Cat jumped back out from the wall and had some kind of large object behind her back.

I raised an eyebrow at her with an unamused expression and she just looked back gleefully.

"Close your eyes," she ordered with a smile.

I rolled them before obeying.

I felt the air move a bit as she stepped forward. Her scent of sugary items drifted into my system. It was…intoxicating.

"Open your arms out," she whispered.

I did so and was rewarded with weight landing on them.

"Kaykay. Now look." I could just imagine the full toothed smile that she produced without even opening my eyes. When I did, I took a gasp of air. In my arms was the largest pair of scissors that I had ever seen. It weighed quite a bit, but it looked identical to a normal adult pair of scissors. The top part was a shiny black and the blade mirrored my image exactly, but was marked with red paint. I tested out the sharpness of the blade by running my hand down the edge and was content to feel the potential harm that the scissors could make.

"How did you…" I started as I looked at Cat with amazement.

"I made it." She blossomed at my expression.

"You _made_ this?"

"Yeah. It took a long time, though. I had to get the right metal and sharpen it with a very dangerous sharpening thing. It, uh, cost me some hair." She ran her hand through her hair and showed me some strands that were shorter than the rest. "And then I just made the handle out of clay and connected it and stuff. I had to study how the scissor worked for a full week. And then I just had to paint it and make sure that it was shiny. Oh, and the red stuff is supposed to be blood."

She paused and thought over what she said.

"It's not actually blood," Cat reassured me, like I needed reassuring.

"But how did you have the time to make it? This obviously needed a lot of work."

"I made it as my big semester project for my 3D art class. I'm pretty sure I got an A, but my teacher acted funny when I started to put on the red paint. She warned me to be careful with it. She's pretty weird. I'm not even going to use it, you are."

I gave her a questionable look. "Me?"

Her gaze at me resembled someone who was looking at their hero.

"You would look so scary with it tonight. Plus, you love scissors."

I opened and closed the blades of them, testing out how powerful they were, and laughed a little.

"Can these kill a person?"

Cat looked up in the air for a second while thinking and replied, "Possibly."

"Awesome."

"Hey, Jade?"

I lifted my head from my new favorite pair of blades to find Cat looking at the ground in a guilty way.

"What's up?"

"Do you…do you want to go through the House before it officially opens with me? I mean, Robbie told me that they are having people test it out last minute and I thought that it might be fun…"

Scary? Fun? This new Cat is starting to scare me.

"What's with you?" I yelled out of nowhere. Cat looked up at me in shock. "Cat, you are completely changing in front of my eyes. Just a month ago, you cowered at the sight of that Marley dog dying and now you want to go into a haunted house for fun? Did you go through a metamorphosis without anyone knowing? Or are you finally growing up or something?"

"Jade…"she whimpered.

"Cat! I want an explanation. Other people may just think that since it's Halloween this is appropriate but I know you better. Blood makes you run away. Death makes you want to cry. Scary creatures in general give you nightmares for days. Do you have a twin that switched with you the day that I found you in the rain?"

"That day…"She didn't look at me at all. I wanted to pin her up against the wall and force her to spit out whatever was going on in that crazy mind of hers. "That day wasn't a good day at all. Everything changed…"

"How did everything change!" My body felt like it was going to explode.

Her eyes didn't even glimpse at me as she reached into her shorts pocket and took out something so small that twenty of them could fit in her small palm and there would still be room. She slowly opened it for my eyes to find a pink pill the size of a baby ladybug.

I was stunned for a few seconds before commenting, "You're taking drugs?" It would definitely explain her behavior; always weird in the head, always random.

"Not exactly…" Cat still wouldn't look at me.

"Wait, what do you-"

"Jade! Finally!"

I turned around quickly, angered at the fact that I was about to be told probably the most important secret that I would ever hear willingly. André came running over while holding out a coffee cup.

"What the FUCK, André?" I probably was a little too pissed than what would be reasonable but Cat and I had a connection and he freaking ripped it apart.

"I got your coffee, Jade. Aren't you happy?"

"No! You interrupted our conversation!" I turned towards Cat to see that the pill disappeared from her hand and she was looking at the ground again.

"Damn, girl. First you make me get you coffee and then you don't want it? I just can't please you, can I?"

I sighed and forcefully took the drink from André's hands.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"So, are you two going into the House before this place opens up?"

I noticed that Cat lit up at his words.

"Yup," I replied. If her brain was thinking normally, she and I were probably thinking the same thing. The House would mean another chance to talk.

"Haha. Do you two need a male chaperone to, you know, protect you from the spirits?" André wiggled his fingers all creepy at us. Cat looked at him confused. I looked at him annoyed.

"No, André. I'm pretty sure I can protect the both of us with this nice gift that I got from Cat." To prove my power, I raised the giant scissors in his face and snipped them so close to his nose that he flinched backwards a couple of inches.

"I really hope you don't hurt someone, Jade. If you freak out even once, I don't doubt that you might actually cut someone in two."

"Do you ever recall a time that I have freaked out?" I questioned him as if he were crazy.

"There was that time that you and Beck broke up and you made Tori get you two back together," Cat answered.

"And there was also the time that we were stuck in Beck's RV and you freaked that you were sweating," André also answered.

"Okay. Okay. Those were two times. But I didn't freak at anything that's supposed to be scary. So there's nothing to worry about."

"I guess…" André still wasn't convinced but I stopped caring.

"Comon, Cat. Let's try to survive the House." I took her hand and ignored the warmth that radiated from her as I led her away from the boy who ruined my night.

"Kaykay," she replied and didn't even resist the tug.

Even though the people at our school can be terrible at times, I had to give them props about how they did the House. It was brilliantly created. The House was a realistic dilapidated mansion that even I wouldn't casually stroll in. The outside boards were broken and looked like they would fall at any moment. The House was surrounded by moss and eerie trees that could hide anything in them. Of course, they worked with a house already there. They just painted the outside of it and maybe added a tree or two. But it was so well done that I don't think the people that owned the house would repaint over it. It could be a nice attraction.

"You really want to go in there?" I asked Cat. Half of my mind still didn't think that Cat had fully changed. The other half was completely sure of it.

"With you, yes. Otherwise, no. I don't think I'd come out of it alive alone."

I laughed and laid the giant scissors on my left shoulder. "You have nothing to worry about, Cat. If anything in there even thinks about touching you, I would cut it to pieces."

She beamed at me in the way that only she could and hugged me quickly. My heart warmed at the touch, something that doesn't happen when Beck hugs me.

"Thank you, Jade."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." The quicker we entered the House, the quicker we would find an empty area to talk. I wanted to know more about the pill. Who wouldn't? It was a little pink pill that could easily be swallowed in a second, not even needing water. It reminded me of those pills that secret forces have in a pocket by their shoulders that brings instant death. It was the last plan that makes sure that, if fallen into enemy hands, the person would be able to protect themselves and the information that they have. Does Cat have a pill like that? Does she want to commit suicide?

The thought made me glance over at a happy Cat practically skipping into the front door of the House. This girl can't possibly want to kill herself. She claims that the night I found her in the rain was a very horrible night, but it couldn't be so horrible that she would want to see God up close and personal.

I was about to stop her and question her about it but she tugged me into the House.

I did mention that the Hollywood Arts kids did a good job, right? The atmosphere was so well done that I actually considered hiring them for my plays.

With the lights off, everything was different. You couldn't see anything except the things that you didn't want to see. The air was chilly, set to a low temperature. It would make people question whether they were shivering from the cold or from fear. Cat reacted in that way and stood closer to me. The cold didn't affect me at all because my blood felt warm from her being so near.

"There's no turning back now," I teased.

Cat shook her head and held onto my arm as we continued to walk forward.

The sounds of unseen wind and creaking floorboards echoed the area. Of course, a distant cry shouted; it wouldn't be a scary house without some of those. The scream made Cat jump and she tightened her grip on me. Weirdly, I didn't find it annoying or bothersome at all. I felt…pride?

"GRAHHH!"

"AHH!" Cat screamed in my ear and jumped back as some kid who looked as if he was melting popped in front of us only to run back to his hiding spot while snickering.

"Goddamn creep," I muttered as I went over and picked Cat up off of the floor. "You okay?"

"I'm fine…"she barely breathed it. It calmed me, though, that she was acting like this. If she wasn't scared at all then I would be worried. "Let's keep going."

"Remember, I can cut these guys to pieces if I wanted to."

She gave me a half-hearted grin and trudged forward. I'm not sure why she kept pushing herself because anyone could see that she was scared to be in here.

After a couple more scares from animatronics and real life students, Cat was so full of fear that she wouldn't even budge from the floor. Some of them even scared me a little. It was the right timing and where they popped out that did the trick. You would think that the majority of them would scare you at the sides and after a period where nothing happened. That didn't happen at all. They appeared everywhere; at the sides, in the ceiling, even in the floor. One of them popped out of a trap door and nearly sent my scissors on top of it's head. And the time between each scare was unpredictable. At one time, you would go a full five minutes of absolutely nothing and then at another time, there aren't any seconds in between where there wasn't something going on.

It was absolutely brilliant. For me, anyways.

Poor Cat was probably scarred for life. After the sixth or seventh scare, she lost her voice from how much she screamed. Since she's a singer…her screams were loud, long, and quite high pitched. I thought about plugging in my headphones until it was over to spare my eardrums.

But at that moment in time, Cat just couldn't make herself go through anymore, and we haven't even been in there fifteen minutes. It was supposed to be a 30 minute event. There were a lot of kids that wanted to participate and it was a big house.

"Come on, Cat. We're barely halfway through." I tried to prod her up but it was no use; she was stuck to the floor.

"O-only h-half w-way?" She was shivering so badly that I thought she caught pneumonia or something.

"Yes and we need to keep moving or we'll never get out of here."

"I don't w-want to keep g-going. I j-just want to l-leave."

I kneeled down and forced myself to rest a hand on her shoulder. I'm not very good at making people feel better…

Looking around for someplace that we could rest, I spied a small rip in the decorations. I told Cat that I would be right back and went over to check it out. The area was small but away from the terrors so I gestured for Cat to come over and she slowly crawled her way to the little sanctuary.

"Is this better?" I asked. She nodded her head and curled up into a ball.

I found myself sitting next to her, casually looking up as if I were relaxing on a hill outside and instead of a ceiling there were stars.

"I don't get you," I started. "I don't understand you at all. Before you were a thrill seeker and now you're a scardy cat…no pun intended."

I thought I heard a slight giggle but when I turned to face her, I could only see her eyes looking at me for her mouth and nose were hidden in her arms.

"We didn't finish our conversation earlier," I stated with complete seriousness.

My sentence caused her to remember something because she piped up and looked at me with excitement.

"I almost forgot, Jade!"

"Forgot what?" My stare was filled with confusion.

In reply, Cat reached into her shorts pocket again and retrieved the little pink pill. She brought her hand to her mouth.

"What…wait. Cat, what are you doing?"

There was no time for a reply as the little pink pill entered Cat's mouth and was swallowed.


	6. Confession

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show or blah blah blah. I would really appreciate it if I didn't have to do one of these every time I submit something because of copyright issues and people wanting to take my money.**

**A/N: Happy After Halloween (and still submitting a story about it). I am still here for people's amusement and my own creative skills. I am hoping that my writing is getting better but knowing me, it probably is still the same, I just actually looked for errors this time. I reread some of the things I previously submitted and I found so many mistakes that I grew embarrassed and wanted to smack myself. Don't hate me for them . I didn't check them before. Maybe I'll fix them later or something (if I'm not lazy). I also am full aware that this is OOC...but it's really hard to stay in character when I don't really know how these characters would react...so I hope they are still liked. Until next Wednesday (: Thank you for reading it ^-^. **

"Cat!" I screamed louder than any scream possible in this place. I tried to rush my way over to her but stumbled in the small area. Even if I did get there quickly, it would be useless to try anything because in a second, I saw her throat swallow the pill down. I still went over to her and placed both on my hands on her shoulders.

"Why did you do that?" I yelled at her while shaking her body. I didn't care at that point how ridiculous I looked, how scared I was, how unprofessional I was being. It all happened so fast that my mind couldn't keep up with the actions.

"Jade. Jade, please stop," Cat calmly said.

"No. You have to spit that back out." I continued to shake the girl.

"But you're hurting me."

That was all it took for me to quickly subside my attempts to save her. I slowly took my hands off of her shoulders and let them drop to my sides.

"But…but…What does that pill do, Cat?" I looked at her pleadingly.

Cat giggled in response which made me so confused it almost infuriated me. This girl seemed so bipolar. I can't count how many times I mentioned how she went from being one way to something completely different. Maybe she was taking pills the entire time.

"The pink one makes me bubbly."

"The pink _one_?" She took more than one colored pill? What, does the blue one make her depressed and the orange one make her sing?

She giggled again and replied, "Yes the pink one. It's my favorite," she poked my shoulder out of nowhere. "so I take it often."

"Cat…don't you know that taking drugs is stupid? You could have a potential overdose and I know that you don't want to die like that."

She looked at me as if she had no idea that we were still in a haunted house, but instead we were in a park where there was nothing scary at all. Cat then laid down on the floor with her arms crossed behind her head.

"It's not dangerous," she simply said. "We all do it."

"Who the hell is we?" If Robbie or even that whore Tori made Cat start taking these, I swear I was going to beat them so hard that for Halloween they could go as their inside out selves.

"The group that I'm in. We all take these to feel something that we want to feel instead of feeling things that we're forced to feel. If I'm feeling sad one day and I don't want to feel sad, I could just take the yellow pill and feel happy. If I'm in a haunted house and don't want to feel scared, I could take the green pill to feel brave or the pink one to feel bubbly."

Cat then had a smirk on her face. She leaned up on one elbow and beckoned me to go closer to her as she reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out another pill.

Cat whispered in my ear, "Want to know what the red one does?" and showed me that her hand did in fact hold a red pill. I could only nod because all of this was surprising me.

"It makes me feel sexy," she murmured seductively. I felt a tingle down below that made me blush scarlet, the same color as the pill.

"Then what makes you feel anger?" I spitted out. I had no idea how to reply to that statement. The way she just had to casually say it made me…made me…Hell, I don't even know how I'm feeling anymore. I might as well just take a pill myself because all of this made no sense. Actually, it made plenty of sense. I wouldn't have thought that Cat would naturally be that air-headed but this explanation of pills just made the puzzle pieces finally fit together. But then there was the question as to what group she's talking about.

"The black one," she answered and frowned. "We don't really like to take that one because the feelings aren't good at all."

"Okay. Okay." I took one hand and put it on her shoulder, this time only to support myself. "All of this is overwhelming. You're saying that for a while, who knows how long because to me you've always been a bit weird in the head, you've been taking these pills that change how you feel. You are in a group of people that also takes these. And these pills make you feel whatever you want. If they do, then why aren't you loopy now? And once again, who the hell are these people that introduced you to this shit?"

Cat bravely sat up and placed a finger on my lips to quiet me. I probably needed it. So many questions came out of my mouth and I couldn't even help it. I've never been so curious before in my life. Everything else could go screw itself but this is a possible scientific discovery.

"The pill needs ten minutes to react. In that time, there's just pure clarity. I could probably find the meaning of life in that amount of time. But in about three minutes, it'll start and I'll be back to normal. As for the group part…I'd probably be killed if I said. I told you about the pills but I just can't tell you about my group."

I moved her hand away from my mouth and tried to ask as calmly as I could, "Are you in a gang?" I know that it sounds stupid but what kind of group would kill you if you talked about them? I doubted that she would've answered yes, anyways. Why would Cat be in a gang? I know that surprises are happening from her everyday but this one just can't be true.

Unfortunately, she only stared at me as she slowly nodded.

"You're kidding," I stated. "There is no way that you even know someone with that low of life expectancy."

"It's true, Jade," Cat turned away from me. "I was practically abandoned when I was little and I met them and-"

"No! You are not in a stupid gang! You are taking these pills because you're a little messed up in the head and that is it."

"I'm not messed up in the head! These pills save me from being messed up."

"These pills are messing you up!" I took both of her hands and forced her to look at me. "You're saying that these pills make you feel anything you want. That is exactly what they are supposed to do. You seem like you're already hooked and if I knew anything in the entire world, it would be that no drug is ever completely safe if you take it a lot. Placebos are the only exception because they aren't even real."

I stared right into Cat's eyes with everything that I had, begging her, pleading with her to say to me that it was all a joke and that she was just really special. I wanted those pills to be just colorful, little sugar tablets that make her hyper.

"These pills save me from living with the cruelty of life. I could just take one and be able to turn a terrible situation into something amazing. I was almost kidnapped when I was little. I never want to feel that terror again. The only time I ever remember anything is in the ten minute clarity. But by the time I'm close to feeling pain, it's all gone and replaced with something better. My parents found out about it all. The pills, the gang, everything. They thought that the entire time I just hit my head once too many. I actually did used to do that…to make the memories go away. My parents didn't want anything to do with gangs or drugs or-"

She stopped herself. It was so sudden that I knew she made a mistake in going on. It wasn't only those two things that caused her to be put out into the pouring rain to waste away into nothingness. There was something else that she was hiding from me. I had a guess, though. It was a bit farfetched but it's certainly something that would cause a loving parent to hate their child.

Cat looked away again but in a broken way; in a way that someone would retract after being yelled at.

"Or what, Cat?" I asked softly. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Cat. What else did they blame you for? I can't try to help you if you don't tell me."

She shook her head harder in response and yanked her hands away from mine.

"What, Cat?" My voice rose louder than I wanted it to.

Cat sprung up and looked me straight in the eyes, almost screaming as tears made their way down her cheek.

"For loving you!"

Cat then ran out of our little hole in the wall and back into the House while crying. I wasn't sure if the pill kicked in or not at this point. All I even knew was that I quickly jumped to my feet and raced after her.

Just because we timed out of being scared doesn't mean that the House timed out of trying to scare us. Everything still reacted as it should regardless of the situation. But this time, I didn't think either of us was worried about it. At least I wasn't. The dress was a major hassle but anything that got in my way I ignored. The machines that jumped out at me I dodged. The screams that were supposed to make me jump didn't affect me at all. A kid that was trying to pop out and scare me got decked in the gut because I didn't have the patience anymore. I just kept running after Cat, screaming her name, trying to get her to come back.

I never even registered what she said.

There was a bend in the House that caused people to slow down because it made people maneuver around pieces of "flesh" and skeletons. I knew I could trap her there and when I saw the bend up ahead, I was rewarded with the sight of red hair.

I had to shove my way through people; the House officially opened up when we were talking in the sanctuary. Some people thought that I was actually supposed to be doing that, probably because I was still dressed the part to be acting insane. Other people thought I was trying to get ahead and tried to block me, which made me plow through them without any restraint.

I finally reached the velvet haired girl and pushed her against the wall to block any escape. I was bigger than her, so it wasn't a problem. What was a problem was how, without any warning at all, my lips touched hers.

I didn't even control it.

My lips connected with hers in a magnetized way. The force was half rough half soft, my lips crushing into hers but not so hard that it was comfortable, a welcoming feeling. Her and my lips moved in a perfect rhythm. My hands went into the lush of hair that kept teasing me, always teasing me with its beauty and uniqueness. Her hands went behind my back and to my front to fell all they could through the fabric. I never expected this one girl to be so curious. She didn't even take the pill for it.

The kiss was long and full of something that I couldn't put my finger on. It was powerful and emotional and I could just feel the tears that Cat was still producing on my own skin.

Our lips were still locked together even though I was clearly aware of the audience that we had. It's not on a normal basis that you see two girls making out in a Haunted House. Might as well take a picture because this shit will never happen again.

"Love," I murmured, officially ending the kiss. My head retreated from the girl's but left barely any room in between.

"What?" Cat stepped back and looked at me so adorably confused that I actually smiled.

"I felt love in the kiss. I haven't felt it in so long with Beck that I actually forgot how it was like."

Cat gleamed so brightly that I allowed myself to chuckle, but our moment was interrupted when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around, still on cloud nine, to find a very disgusting bride in my vision who just so happened to be looking at me disgustingly as well.

My expression glowered quickly. I couldn't believe that this messed up creature would be here to ruin our moment so I said, "Homophobic, Tori? You know that people would hate you for hating."

I looked around more to find that Cat and I had definitely made a nice crowd. André looked at us questioningly. Tori looked like she just got ditched at her own wedding. Everyone else was either gaped mouthed or grimacing. I could've sworn some boys were hiding something precious in their pants.

Cat and I had definitely messed up Tori's big shot in the House. Instead of her show, we made our own. I wasn't sure anymore if Tori was upset about that, which she probably was, or that Cat and I had a lesbian moment.

Vega looked angrily into my eyes and almost shouted, "What are you doing here? I thought that you had your own section to scar people for life. What the hell are you doing in mine?" She was probably upset about me stealing her thunder.

"Can't you see Vega? We're giving our nice audience a show!" I grinned at her which made her clench her fists.

"A show? If that was all you were doing, I'm pretty sure you could have picked a better plot!" Nope, maybe she was upset about both.

"Ha. Any plot would've done better than this one."

"You picked it!" Her voice rose. All of this was making Vega look uglier and uglier.

"Did I, now?" I feigned ignorance.

Tori made an exasperated sound that just made my smile grow. This day was just getting better.

Vega then turned suddenly, completely shifting the fight from me to Cat.

"You." She pointed a finger at the girl and stared. "What did Jade do to you? What did Jade say to make you come here and do this?"

"Jade didn't make me do anything…" Cat said a bit quietly. By now, I was pretty sure that the pill kicked in which means that she should be full of nothing in the head. Cat was now as innocent as a child.

"Leave her out of this, Vega," I warned bridezilla.

"No." Vega stepped closer to Cat and I stepped in the way of her.

"You do anything stupid, Vega, and I'll make you wish that you never spoke a word in your entire life." I was going to threaten her with the giant scissors but then realized that it was no longer on me. I had left it back at the sanctuary.

"You don't scare me, Jade." Vega's eyes were now zoned in mine. "I know you did something to Cat and when I found out what it was, you'll be sorry."

"I didn't do anything, bitch. Cat could've said no at any second." I knew I had to defend Cat as much as I could. If her parents lashed out on her for mentioning her affection to me, and just seeing how Tori is dealing with our performance, then other people knowing that Cat initiated this event would be bad for her.

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Please stop," the redhead squeaked behind me.

I turned around for one second, which was a horrible mistake.

Vega used the distraction to dodge around me, pushing me to the ground, and shoved Cat against the wall.

"What did she do Cat?" Tori was running on insanity now. Her anger for being outshined went to her head and now she didn't know what she was doing. "I know you would never kiss her in a million years. Did she drug you? Did she threaten you would one of her lethally sharped scissors?"

I forced myself to quickly get back on my feet, almost tripping over the bottom of my dress. Officially pissed off, I ripped the edge of my dress and left a nice jagged edge that made me look more violent.

"Answer me, Cat! Answer me or I'll tell everyone about—ugh!"

My body slammed into the bitch of horror's, sending us both spiraling towards the floor. Cat was now free so she ran to hide behind André, who was doing absolutely nothing but staring at a chick fight. I didn't pay any more attention to the safety of Cat as my fist connected with Tori's jaw. Tori screamed in pain and used both her feet to kick me in the stomach before regaining her stance.

We both went at it, clawing at one another, covering up the fake blood with real blood. The crowd around us was only watching. I wasn't even sure if they thought this was real or not. Only André and Cat knew it was fake, but Cat was in lala land and André seemed frozen in place.

"You've always been a bitch, Tori. Everyone else may think that you're Little Miss Perfect but I see through them!" Another punch met Vega's head and she went backwards into the wall. In retaliation, Tori rammed herself into my body but held on so that I was in her mercy.

"It's a good thing that you're with Cat now because Beck has had his eyes on me ever since I came to the school. You may think I'm anything but perfect, but perfect is all Beck thinks I am. He's proven his loyalty in more ways than one."

I looked Tori in the eyes as she continued to pin me to place and her pupils held lust. I didn't need to ask what Beck has supposedly done, the pang in my heart from betrayal confirmed the dirty deed.

I pushed Tori's chest to get her off me which caused her to trip back onto the floor.

"Go ahead! Do you want the rest of my lunch, too? I don't mind you keeping my useless leftovers. In fact, you can just stay there on the floor and wait for every guy to come around and fuck you over, you whore! Cat and I already made the guys here horny and now they need to let out all that they're keeping in. You here that you worthless pieces of space?" I turned around and addressed the crowd that was still watching the fight. "This girl right here would be happy to please you!"

I was looking over the audience who had their mouths opened, and was either talking to one another or watching Tori and I be absolute maniacs to each other. I stopped my scan when I reached Cat still cowering behind André, her eyes bore into mine with complete worry. But worry about what? I had officially dumped Beck at this point, I was all hers, and I beat up Tori with all that I had. What was there to worry about?

My answer was given when I heard a loud thud on the back of my head and my sight went black, Cat's worried face the last thing that I saw.


	7. Story Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. If I did own it, I would make so many lovely changes like kick Tori out from being the main character. Have I mentioned that I really don't like her?**

**A/N: I am very, very, very, very (include some large number here with an x in front of it to mean times) sorry that I did not upload anything these past two Wednesdays. Life really just sucks now and I can make like, 20 excuses but I guess they really don't matter at this point. What matters is that I finally got a nice chapter done and I hope to make another one next week since I have a break from school and a working computer. I plan to make more chapters, have some lovely revenge, a very good antagonist, and add a lemon since I got a comment about it and this is rated M so isn't that expected? I hope you readers are enjoying this and I would thank every single one of you, but it would take too long to thank you all individually and I am far too lazy. Enjoy this chapter :D**

Pain woke me up. It felt like a hangover except it was all in the back of my head. I attempted to sit up but was unable to, the pain being unbearable. So that, and the fact that I was super groggy, made me angry as soon as I opened my eyes.

I tried to look around the room but couldn't because I wasn't able to move my body. Even shifting my head a few centimeters caused pain to ripple at the top but I was able to notice a couple of IV wires in in my arms. All I was able to see was a window that was fairly large in size and horribly painted walls the color of something I would throw up.

"Hello?" My words came out chocked. I tried to speak louder as I questioned the unknowing, "Hello!"

No sound answered to me. I had no idea where I was, what happened, or even what day it was. All I know was that I was in a bed that seemed presumably safe and that I had a killer headache. Wonderful. The last thing that I was able to recall was seeing something red. Red…what did I know that was red? Apples are red. Cakes could be red, I guess. Or red velvet cake? Wait, red velvet, Cat's hair.

"Cat," I muttered. Cat was the last thing that I saw. Just the name made my heart skip a beat.

"Cat and…pills. And giant scissors? And…a kiss. A kiss and Tori interrupting…" I was trying to remember things by saying them out loud. I felt that if I did say them in the open, that they would be more real, that they had actually happened.

"Tori." I angered at the memory. I finally put the pieces together. Tori and I had been fighting because she's a tramp that only wanted stardom and dicks. Cat was under the influences of a drug that I still didn't figure out who was responsible for. I kissed Cat. She admitted her affection to me and in return, I hunted her down and kissed her. I could only imagine the redness in my normally pale cheeks that was growing at the thought of kissing the girl.

I guess now I only needed to figure out what happened after that, and considering how I was knocked out by a whore, I didn't have many leads.

I looked out the window to see that the sun was way up in the sky. That either meant that it was almost midday or it was leaning more towards the afternoon, depending on which direction I was facing. I figured that if the people that put me here wanted me healthy, they would feed me, so I might be seeing company for lunch or dinner. In response to the thought, I heard a growl from my stomach.

"Nice," I sighed.

"Sounds like somebody is awake and hungry." The voice came from the other side of the room where I couldn't see. Of course I would be in a position where I was completely vulnerable to anyone who might want to kill me in the night. The voice didn't sound snarky, though. It sounded more friendly than that. I wasn't sure which was worse for my ears to hear. I hate friendliness.

"Bet you heard that a mile away," I said with fake happiness. I was handicapped and in a bed unable to do anything for myself. If that person, sounded like a feminine voice, was here as a caretaker, then at least show me you mean to take care of me.

"It was pretty loud," she chuckled, buying my acting skills.

"Well," I continued the conversation because she was getting nowhere. "If you can't tell, I'm stuck in a bed without absolutely any clue as to where I am. Mind giving me some insight before I go crazy?"

She was quiet for a second, realizing that my kindness was feigned and that I was actually annoyed.

"You're in a hospital, Ms. West. You were hit in the back of the head and was placed in a coma."

A coma? Vega hit me so hard that I actually landed in a waste of a dreamland?

"How…how long was I out?" My anger notched down a bit. I actually was getting scared at the thought of being asleep for a while. It could've been days, weeks, months. Then again, my head was still hurting so it couldn't have been that long unless Tori snuck in here and repeatedly hit my head. If that was her life's goal then I would almost pity her.

"Just four days. You've had some visitors at times. It seemed like your best friend came in here the most. She would come at the earliest times to visit you and then leave after a couple of hours just to come back before closing. She was a weird child, a bit lightheaded. It's no wonder, though, she had red hair!"

She could only be talking about Cat. I was pretty sure at that point that Cat revolved around my life. Or did I revolve around hers? Sounded kind of…romantic. God damn it, the girl is changing me!

"Ugh," I unconsciously moaned.

"Is anything wrong?" The lady who has yet to let me see her asked. No way was I going to actually tell her what was going on inside of my head. It would only scar her. Though, I bet it would be amusing to see some scarring today.

"I'm just…really hungry," I lied. "And stiff. You think there's any way to turn me around? I feel like I've been in this position for decades."

"Of course." I heard the smile in her voice. I was no longer extremely hostile, so I guess she figured I was safe, for now. The lady came over to my end and I finally got a look at her. Plump and young, probably 25, with brown hair and blue eyes. A person that I would never remember in my entire life after I leave this place. She looked friendlier than most nurses that I've seen and I've seen very mean nurses because of certain…situations.

"Alright, I'm going to lift your head carefully and together we'll roll you over."

I don't think there could've been any way to roll over painlessly.

The lady held my head like she said, but I honestly wish that I did it myself, even if it caused the most unbearable pain. The woman being so close to me, invading my privacy, my own little bubble, caused me to be on edge. I had to fight to not yell at her or hurt her but with the nurse being so close…I almost snapped. Luckily, after holding in grunts and just flopping myself over while being careful of the IV chords, it only took a few seconds for me to be in a sitting up position, more or less.

"There that's better." She smiled at me. I looked at her with fatigue. Rolling over wore me out.

"I, uh, probably should get you some food now." Yeah, you probably should. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

She started to quickly walk out of the room but stopped herself before exiting.

"Oh," she started, as if she just remembered something. "Your friend, with the red hair, she normally comes in around this time so you might be seeing her soon."

I gained a spurt of energy at the thought of Cat coming into this hospital room seeing a probably messed up version of me in a wardrobe without a butt. I felt embarrassed. Another new emotion that I discovered in this adventure.

The nurse walked out of the room and I heard her mutter to herself, "What a weird pair of friends."

What a weird pair of friends indeed. Cat was all…hyperactive. Loopy. Careless about being normal. Most optimistic. I was depressing. Serious. Careless about other people and a pessimist. How the hell did we end up…like this? I don't think that I ever thought about a single person as much as I thought about Cat.

The only thing that seemed to break my train of thought was my stomach growling but I couldn't even hear it because sleep started to enter my system. Damn IV chords…

* * *

><p>I reawakened to the sound of footsteps. They were very light, almost as if the person were bouncing weightlessly instead of stepping normally. And then I heard a giggle. Probably the most well known giggle that I will always remember.<p>

I didn't open my eyes for I was curious about what Cat did when she was here. She probably was on her pink pill again, just being a random Cat and wasting her time doing nothing useful.

I didn't have to wait at all because before I knew it, the bouncing footsteps made their way into my room. But then they stopped. They weren't skipping gleefully around like I thought they would. I heard a deep sigh with a slight whimper in it.

Slower, heavier footsteps were heard as they walked to the edge of my bed. Nothing happened for a few seconds. I thought that Cat was going to just stare at me until I felt a very careful, soft hand caress my face. I was stunned and unable to move.

"Jade…" she whispered. "You've been moved."

I thought that I heard a little happiness in her voice. Hope. I heard a little hope in her voice.

"The doctor said that talking to you would help, it would connect you more with reality."

I didn't dare move an inch.

"I was going to…the last time I was here. But…I don't know. I just couldn't do it. You're always so off limits and I'm scared to tell you anything. I don't even know if you're listening now. But I guess it doesn't hurt. If anyone walks in here, it'll be an excuse. People probably think I'm crazy anyways." She giggled to herself.

She sat herself in the middle of my bed. The mattress slumped and my right side fell a little. I could sense that it almost touched her thigh. Her hand then rested on my stomach and I warmed at the touch.

"I've always wanted to tell you my past. It was so bad…and I thought that you could relate, maybe. I mean, you don't really talk either but from what you have said, you've been through rough times, too. You've met my parents. They're careful, conservative, and kind of strict but also quite loving. I should be grateful that I had them. Had…huh, I guess I don't have them anymore. Kind of sad if you think about it…"

She was quiet for a few more seconds before she spoke again, the hand on my stomach started to rub lightly.

"Sometimes I remember things that I don't want to remember when I take the pills. Like, right now, I'm remembering some things that I shouldn't, or didn't want to remember. I haven't taken anything since the night of the House...Things are coming back to me that I really don't want to, and they're coming back at random times. Like before, I just said that my parents are loving. That's their front. They're not actually as caring as they seem. When I was about six years old, I went on a trip with my parents to a bad part of town. They were looking for someone specific and had a problem that I guess had to deal with whoever they were looking for. I never found out who that person was because once we reached the address that we were told, I was left outside while they went in. They didn't even say anything. They just walked right up to the door and slammed it behind them, as if I wasn't even there. I didn't know what to do so I just sat on the curb, waiting for them to come out.

"They didn't come back out, though.

"I waited hours. And it was in the winter time so I was freezing. I was so scared, too. There were thugs about and they were always looking at me as if I were a meal to them. I tried to hold back my tears but, being six, I let them out anyways.

"There was one group of thugs that were always looking my way, the entire time that I was sitting outside. When it started to get dark, they came over to me. Something about them screamed of bad news but I knew that if I tried to run, they could easily catch me. So I just stayed there and they approached me and started saying things to each other, kind of loud, throwing cusses around like they were formal speech. One of them touched me and I sprung back from him. All of them laughed and then the same guy went for me again. Instead of touching, he punched me. It bruised immediately and I cried out in pain. I should've kept quiet, hold in the cry, because the cry was like an opened wound in a pool of sharks. The blood causes the sharks to frenzy. The cry caused the thugs to do the same thing."

My eyes opened immediately. Cat was looking down at the floor with a sad expression on her face. It was so sad, so hurt. She didn't even notice me looking at her.

"In the end, I was wounded, stripped, and no longer pure. They touched me, each of them, and I had no way to fight back except to yell. But that wasn't going to do anything. Yelling always happened where I was at the moment so no one would pay any mind to my screams. They left me by a garbage container where eventually some cops found me. I honestly was lucky to be alive. But when I returned home, my parents acted like the loving and caring parents that everyone thinks they are. I had been gone one a night and a day. They told the cops that I was at a sleepover at the edge of the good part of town, near where I was found, and then during the night I disappeared. They were going to call the police around the time I showed up ,and was so thankful that I was found before they did. They also said that the mom saw me walk away from the house, that I wasn't kidnapped or anything, as an excuse to just let the case end and not get more into it. Since my parents were known to be trustworthy, the cops bought it and gave them a warning to watch me. And it was as if that event never happened. My parents scolded me with reasons that I don't even remember and then let it be. I was never harmed. I was never stripped naked. I was never raped. Not to them, anyways. Not to anyone but me…"

Tears were now rolling freely down her cheeks and I almost reached over to comfort her but she started to talk again.

"I went back there a few years ago. Forced again by my parents. Once again left out in the cold. I honestly didn't know where we were going until we got there. I went into a fit at the memories but instead of a gang coming up to me, a teenager with some messed up clothes approached me instead. She looked homeless, but tough, as if anyone that tried to mess with her would be beaten. But she didn't try to hurt me. Instead, she came up to me and asked if I had ever been where I was before. I said yeah, but years ago. She asked if I was around six or seven and I nodded. She then gave me a pitied face, told me that she was there when I was raped by those men and that she was sorry that she didn't do anything. She was hiding, watching until a certain point, and then went to get the police. It took her a long time, though, because apparently there weren't many cops around the area. But they got to me. If it weren't for her, I would probably be dead by now. But she felt so bad about it that she wanted to make it up to me and offered her protection. But not only for just then; forever. She was in her own gang that specialized in the pills and since I was left for hours again, I went with her to some of the other members. I know that it sounds stupid to do that, especially since what happened the time before, but I actually did remember her face when the cops picked me up. And I was sure that it was her. Plus, I wasn't hurt for going. I was introduced to the pills, watched how they worked when other members used them, and became part of their family. I meet with them now and get daily doses and we all just bond together, sharing our horrible memories and then forgetting them. We live life in a better way. And I guess that that's the story you wanted to hear."

She finally looked at me and was shocked to see that I was awake.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked me quietly, still very much shocked.

"Since you walked into the room," was all I could answer. I had no idea how to react. Cat just spilled her most deepest, torturous memories, as well as a dark secret. I now knew how she came amongst the gang. I had no idea that it cost something horrible.

"I…I really thought that you were sleeping and you didn't hear all that. You shouldn't have heard all of that. I just wanted to let it out for once…" Cat started to shake and tears were spilling over.

"Cat, calm down. It's okay, I won't judge you." I reached over to her while ignoring the pain in my head and was about to hold onto her arms when she jumped off the bed.

"It's not that I'm afraid of you judging me, it's them finding out that you know about us that I'm afraid of. They can and will hurt you, Jade. I can't stop them at all if they find out."

"Well, how can they find out? We're in a private hospital room in a city away from bad places like those. Unless they're super spies, we're safe."

"I don't know, Jade…" She frowned at me with a concerned look. It got me thinking. These people were able to get their hands on mood altering pills. These pills can probably make them crazy and they could've gotten then anywhere. Something told me that they didn't play nice with outsiders and didn't mind getting a scratch on their face to defend themselves.

"Okay…I promise not to say anything about all of this. I'll pretend this never happened. If they ever get me, I'll just deny it all. Play dumb. Remember? I'm the best actress at our school. I think I can pull it off."

Cat looked me in the eyes. Her hazel orbs stared straight into my entire being with a pleading look in them. My guess was a plead for me to be careful. Being cocky will probably lead me to my death. She was serious.

"I promise, Cat."

She made herself nod and then slowly sat back in her spot on my bed. I couldn't take her continuously staring into my eyes so I looked away awkwardly.

"I'm…sorry about what happened to you, Cat." I had no idea how to even respond. Obviously, letting it be would've been a major mistake. She let out her most personal thoughts and if I just flaunted it off like nothing then I would be worse than Tori.

I looked back at her to find that she was still staring at me. She smiled slightly.

"Good things did come out of it."

I could tell that it was a fake smile, though. It's either you fake it, or you let everyone see how it really affects you. That's what I do.

"Somewhat…You know you're strong, right Cat? You are so amazingly strong that I never would've seen it coming. I bet you can beat me in a fight."

She giggled slightly, which made me smile.

"Cat?"

"Hm?"

"Come here," I told her a bit lowly.

She scooted her way closer to me and I leaned in to meet her halfway.

"Yeah?"

My lips touched hers then in a soft and caring way. I made sure of that. I wanted her to know that I was here for her, that nothing else mattered. No gangs, no horrible pasts, not even Tori who I was going to get revenge on one way or another. It was me and Cat against the world.

I pulled back to find her blushing.

"I would never hurt you in that way, you know," I said to her, my face still very close to hers. She was confused for a second until I leaned closer to her ear and started to nibble the bottom of it.

She gasped while saying "oh" as she understood what I meant.

I stopped to tell her, "I would never force you to, either."

I leaned back to look at her expression and she was still blushing.

Her eyes strayed as she spoke quietly, "I've had…fantasies."

I cocked an eyebrow at her in an amusing way.

"Really? Innocent Cat doesn't need the red pill to have sex fantasies?"

The blush got worse.

"I trust you," she whispered. Her hands found mine and held them tightly.

"Well, as soon as I get out of here, we have a lot of catching up to do."

Cat finally looked at me again and I could tell that another thought entered her mind.

"Are you going to get back at Tori? She was the one that hit you in the head. You were out cold and I quickly called the paramedics. The Fest was stopped and everything was ruined."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I smirked at her. She smiled knowing that I probably wanted something chaotic to happen.

"Now that you're okay, I think that everything is good."

"Almost everything," I stated. "I just need to get even with Tori, and I have a perfect plan for it."


	8. Revenge

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. Angry monkeys could probably realize the potential of the show if they owned it, which they do not also. **

**A/N: I was able to make another update. Yay. Unfortunately, I am not very much able to go through it and fix any errors or grammar or spelling, all that lovely stuff that English teachers seem addicted to calling out. I feel like mentioning that I got a new PS3 and since I am a gamer girl, it's going to be harder, with homework and school, to write, but I will make time for it because I enjoy writing as well. I just need the drive to do so. **

**Anyways, _THIS IS A WARNING THAT THERE IS SOME RATED M STUFF_**_** IN THIS CHAPTER! **_

_****_**It's only a little bit but if this is okay with the readers then I will continue onto a lemon next chapter. I could easily lead it into one. So, I hope that you people enjoy this (: I'm normally not one to write such explicit things...**

The smell of antiseptic and rubber gloves almost suffocated me. I was forced to stay in that hell of a rehab place until the following Monday where I would return to school and kick some ass. Each day until then, Cat had visited me numerous times, making sure I was okay and not lonely, still showing some fears about telling me her secret, and even going back to her old personality; the good stuff that Cat normally brings to a conversation.

I want to say that I found all of it a little bit congested but I really can't help but to admit that I found it somewhat soothing; that for once in my life, somebody cared. I wasn't going to let it get to me, though. No way was one person going to change everything that I was. I still hated everything and everyone…except Cat.

"I hate hospitals," I commented a couple of days before my release. Cat was, of course, visiting me and we had nothing better to do than stay in my room, unless you called roaming the place where the stench of old people could kill was something else to do.

"Why do you hate hospitals?" Cat asked, her legs swinging off the side of my bed.

"There is never any peace and quiet plus, I can't smell anymore because all of the scents killed my nose."

Cat stood up from my bed and went over to a vase that some random person left there, probably to liven up the place. The redhead leaned in and sniffed the yellow flower that lived in the face and turned to me.

"Not everything here smells bad."

I rolled my eyes at her. "That's because you're an optimist. I don't understand at all what you see."

"You know you could understand, if you wanted to."

I raised a brow at her.

Cat came back over to my bed where I haven't left except to use the bathroom and order people to get me food. She sat close to me and pecked my lips before showing me an object in her hand. It was the pink pill.

"No way, Cat. I'm not going to take that damn thing." I pushed her hand far away from me.

"But it doesn't harm the body at all. It just makes your emotions different. Why would making them better do anything bad?"

I looked Cat straight in the eye and said as calmly as I could, "Because you can get addicted to them. I have seen way too many people fall victim to drugs and I don't want to see any more. I can't force you to stop but I really wish you could reconsider."

"This is a different kind of drug, though. Too many of one won't do anything. Now, if you mixed and matched, that's a different story."

I paused for a second as a brilliant idea came to mind.

My hand rested on Cat's to gain her complete attention, which worked well, by the way.

"What would happen if you mixed two different pills together?"

"Well," Cat was trying to hide a blush as she explained and her eyebrows came together in frustration. Probably trying to keep calm and explain at the same time. Silly, girl. "You would have two powerful emotions being the center of control. Both of them would probably fight one another so it would kind of seem like you're bipolar. They could also blend together in a way. Like if you had happy and sad; you could bounce off both of those emotions or have a very weird mixture of you crying while smiling and…it's just very confusing. I guess it matters what two you take."

I stared at nowhere in particular with a grin on my face. "You just gave me a great idea."

Cat smiled but then looked confused. "What idea?"

I turned my head back towards her. "I already had a plan to make Vega pay but this just gave me something better that I can work with."

"Wha-"

I put my finger on her lips to silence her. Puppies weren't at all cute to me, but this girl is so much different than those barking little pissers.

"Do you want to see Vega go through the most humiliating event of her life?" I asked her.

Cat nodded her head, my finger still on her lip.

"Then all I'm going to need from you are two certain pills and then just sit back, relax, and film everything."

Monday came so fast it practically hit my head on the way in. Besides a couple of scratches and bruises here and there, I didn't really have much damage to show what happened, nor did I want any shown. Battle scars are okay but I didn't want to be the center of attention; at least not today.

Supposedly I had been gone a full week. I missed loads of classes that I really did not care about, was the talk of the school which made Cat ditch a couple of times because she had been in the gossip as well, and was able to get a lot of eyes staring at me as soon as I walked in because I was alive again to them.

The whispers started almost immediately.

"There she is. Probably was hiding from us out of embarrassment."

"Hiding? I heard that Vega knocked her out so hard she got a concussion."

"Vega couldn't even hurt a fly."

"Really? You think that? I was there when it happened and after she saw Jade and Cat having their lesbo moment, she really blew her top and smacked a prop against West's head."

"I would've thought that West could defend herself."

"Oh she can, you should've seen how bad she beat up Vega, but she was caught off guard while ogling her new lover."

"Right right. I bet Cat ditched school just to go see her. Dykes, they are."

"Couple of lesbians."

"Never would've expected it, at least from Cat. I always thought that Jade might've been a little bi."

"They're totally gay."

"I heard they had sex."

"Some lesbians."

"Whores."

"Should be outcasts."

"Banned."

"Shunned."

"ENOUGH!" I shouted. I stared at the group of people gossiping with death in my eyes. Hands clenched. Teeth bared. I was going to pounce on them like a lion to her feed. "Are all of you looking for a death sentence!"

The group quieted quickly and backed away. I must've looked terrifying. Good. They deserve to be scarred for life.

"Well? All of you were just talking oh so merrily a couple of seconds ago. Where are your tongues? If they're still there, I'll be happy to cut them out for you!" I took out a pair of scissors that I always kept with me and raised them. Call it a threat, but if they really were close enough, I could cut something of theirs.

The group went their separate ways quickly without another word, except for some dick who muttered, "Crazy dyke". I was left standing the hallway looking like I was going to explode with anger.

"Screw it," I muttered as I went over to my locker and yanked it open. I was going to release my anger one way or another. Soon…all very soon.

I turned around while slamming my locker closed, which scared a couple of people, to find the peppy little red head standing in front of me.

"Jade," Cat said. She was holding a video camera close to her body and she looked nervous.

"All you have to do now, Cat, is just record everything Vega does after the plan starts," I told her calmly. Cat was on the pink pill again. She really needed it. The bullying was starting to get to her and there was no other way to really keep her here at school AND stay sane. But now since I'm back, things might get worse for her. It was probably better to let her mind be somewhere else than here, even if it meant taking drugs to get there.

"I heard what they said," was all she commented.

"Don't be afraid of them, Cat. They're seriously messed up in the head, and probably jealous. It doesn't matter at all what they say. They'll get what they deserve too, eventually. Whether karma will give it to them or me, they'll be punished."

She only shook her head while looking towards the ground.

I took her chin in my hand and made her look me in the eyes.

"Stay strong," I commanded.

Cat said nothing as she handed me the two pills that I asked for.

I sighed knowing that there was no form of pep talk to make this girl feel better.

"Over there would probably be the best view." I pointed Cat in the right direction.

"Kay kay." She scurried off.

I took the two pills that I was given and looked at them. One of them was black. The other was red. Anger and sex drive. I really did wonder who would be crazy enough to try those two out. Maybe I would get an award some day.

"Hey, Vega!" I yelled at Tori from across the hall. I knew that she was there the entire time. She watched those scumbags harass me and how bad it pissed me off. She was laughing and making her own snotty comments. The bitch was on her way over to Beck and André who actually didn't see a thing, probably to tell them every bad bit about me.

She whipped her head around and looked at me with a phony friendly grin.

"Jade! I'm so glad to see you out of the hos-"

"Shut it, Vega." I trudged over to her with an angry face to match my fierce behavior.

"Wha-"

"I know what you did to me, Tori. You whacked me upside the head after having a hissy fit."

Tori stared at me with pride covered up by fake sadness.

"I…I didn't mean to knock you out. I only thought that it would just hurt, not cause bad damage."

I looked her up and down. That bitch was lying through her teeth. She probably wanted to stay as pure and self righteous as everyone thinks she is.

"You fibbing slut," I said harshly.

"No I'm not." Tori put her hand on her chest and still tried to play off as innocent.

"Jade, stop this. She was only surprised," Beck cut in. The nerve of him. He never talked to me after the House; didn't even visit me at all in the hospital. I was completely ditched by this guy who has told me so many times that he loved me. And now he thinks it's right to defend such a horrible person? From someone who he himself had lied to?

"You should not speak to me, Beck. You of all people should not be against me after what you have done."

"After what I've done? Jade, you cheated on me."

His expression was completely serious.

"I… I cheated on you? All I did was kiss Cat. She's not even the same gender. Plus, she's a friend. I was only experimenting. We never even talked this through!"

"Friends or not, you still went and kissed another person while seeing me. That's not right, Jade. I've put up with a lot of your actions but this…this is too far. I don't even know you anymore."

"Don't give me that bull, Beck. Each time I screwed up, we still at least talked it out and made up."

"You really think this time we would have made up? You did that because you wanted to. I don't even think it was experimenting from how Tori explained the events. She interrupted and you were defensive to her."

I took a quick look at Tori to find her smirking at me, but when someone else looked at her, she returned to worry.

"Do you know how much she probably lied to you? Ask André what happened. He was there, too."

Beck didn't even look at André.

"I don't need to hear someone else's story to know what happened. You pretty much confirmed that you and Cat did something behind my back. I…I can't forgive you, Jade. Not for that." Beck turned away and, although the words and fact that he didn't trust me hurt, I didn't really feel bad for him going. I just wanted him to know that Vega was the enemy, not me. And him saying that it probably wasn't an experiment…I kind of felt ashamed. I'm going to add that emotion to the list, now. But I tried to play it off as a game when really…I don't think it is anymore.

"And so you go to her? To Tori thelyingskank Vega? You have no idea what she hides behind your back! You think I'm all bad, you don't even know that she started our fight. She willingly knocked me out cold and sent me to the hospital where I was put in a coma!"

"She said that that was an accident."

"She's lying! She was down for the count and I let my guard down for one second and she hit me with something so heavy it could've done permanent damage! You would trust someone that would be angry enough to do that?"

"She said it was an accident, Jade. People make mistakes. I'm sure she's not going to do it again." He turned towards Vega. "Why did you start the fight, anyways?"

Tori was caught off guard. She thought that Beck completely trusted her words and wouldn't question her. I was too much in disbelief in the actions to feel any joy from that.

"I guess…I guess I was really surprised. I mean, Cat really isn't at all into girls. I know that for a fact. I thought that Jade had done something to her and manipulating Cat is the last thing anyone should do."

Beck nodded.

"I…do remember that Tori kept shouting those words as the fight went on, 'What have you done to Cat? What did you do to her?'" André mentioned. I swung around to look at him in anger. He's supposed to be on the side of all that's good. That's André. He knows the difference between right and wrong.

"But…" André continued. He better thank someone an almighty spirit that he did. "Tori did seem more upset than she should've. I think that she had some built up anger in her; that not all of it was because she thought Jade was doing something to Cat."

"Tori?" Beck looked at the bitched.

Vega was stuck. André knew what happened. I knew what happened. It was two against one, and even if Beck really didn't believe me, André was a strong enough power to tip the scale.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll admit it. I was already angry before starting the fight. Something actually happened at home with my parents. I didn't want to mention it because I wanted to be strong. But I guess I put my anger all out on Jade."

Vega turned towards me and I saw a glint in her eye that told me that she was still lying.

"I'm sorry, Jade." The edge of her lip twitched upwards a little.

I forced myself to calm down. I still had my plan to get revenge. Since she was lying about her emotions, I'm going to make sure that her true emotions are so strong, there's no way she'll hide them.

"It's okay," I breathed. "How about…I get you a soda and we'll call it us making up."

"Sure," Tori smiled.

Beck was just standing there, unable to really input anything.

"And with you," I turned toward him. "We'll just be friends."

I went over to the soda machine and picked out something random. I untwisted the cap and dropped the two pills in. The drink was so dark that you couldn't see either of them.

"It's okay Beck if you go with Tori. I mean, just look at her. She's all any boy can ask for."

I handed Vega the spiked drink with a fake smile.

"I think I'll just stick with Cat. She'll probably keep me content as Vega will you. Cheers."

I said that just as Vega tilted the drink and sucked down the two tablets. There was still 20 minutes until the first bell rang for class to start so I walked away from the group and sat down to "read" but was close enough to still hear the conversation.

The clarity kicked in quickly.

"Have you ever wondered about mind erasing? Like, you would never know if your mind was actually erased because you have no memory of it. It's like it never happened. But it did happen. You could have done something just a moment ago and never know that it actually happened because you have no memory of it. It's so…weird," Vega pondered to the group.

"What's with you being so inquiring?" André asked.

"I don't know…I just feel…clear. Like, there's nothing cloudy in my mind. I can focus so well and not be distracted and I can think without feeling confused. Must've been that energy drink I had this morning. I was trying a new brand out and I think it finally kicked in." Yeah, Tori. It was definitely an energy drink.

"Well, that's cool," Beck commented.

And it went on like that for a few minutes. Tori was randomly being more thoughtful than others but nothing to be too bothered about. I looked at my phone at one point and saw that it had been nine minutes since Tori took the pills. I caught Cat's eyes from the other side of my room and pointed to my arm to signal that it was almost time.

Cat gazed at me a bit sadly and but her camera set up.

I counted down the minute and then stood up, making sure I had a good view for the show.

Vega twitched. It was a rough twitch that made it seem like something switched in her brain.

I quickly glimpsed to find that Cat had already started recording. Excellent.

"Beck," Tori said, quiet calmly actually.

"Hm?"

Tori walked towards him, making him put his back against the wall. She started running her finger around Beck's face, her own moving closer to his lips.

"Let's say you and me do something before school starts." She kissed his lips and made her other hand reach lower towards his groin. Not many people were looking right now but André was still there, still visualizing it all.

Her fingers touched the cloth and Beck broke away from the kiss.

"What are you doing?" Beck went from Tori to André in his confusion and embarrassment at what was happening.

"I just want a little something before school starts," Tori said innocently. She continued to rub her hands over her torso and leaned in to nibble on Beck's earlobe.

"No, Tori." Beck took her hands away from his body. "Now is probably the worst time to even think about that."

"What?" Tori's expression changed suddenly. She went from calmly seductive to mad; her eyebrows going downward and her smile flipped to a frown. "I want you. Now."

She threw her hand down Beck's body and grabbed onto his junk.

"Tori!" Beck jumped to the side as he yelled her name. Now everyone was starting to notice. A group of people were coming closer to the scene while Beck was trying to fight off both Tori and utter embarrassment.

"What can I say, Beck? I really want you. You just look so…sexy right now. And I can't wait. I won't wait." She angrily made her way over to Beck again and jumped to pin him against the lockers. Her teeth grazed at his earlobes and I could tell that Beck was suppressing a groan.

"Stop it now, Tori." Beck threw her off of him with all that he had. Vega ended up on the floor in a mess. There was now a bigger crowd than before. Everyone was into what was happening. A straight A nerd who usually spent his time studying. A supposed piano genius who normally had better things to do. A blonde hair blue eyed nobody who probably nothing better to do. Everyone wanted to see a scuffle that had Tori in it. She wasn't supposed to be doing things like this.

"Beck," Vega growled before pouncing on Beck, causing him to fall on the floor with a loud thud. Before Beck had any time to get back up, Vega was attacking his pants. She yanked them off and was about to pull of the boxers too before André stepped in.

"Stop it, Tori. You're causing a scene!" He tried to pull Tori away from Beck but she just turned around, her attention now on a new victim.

"You're not looking half bad today either, André." She licked her lips and went down to her own jeans while starting to pull them off. "I don't care at all for a crowd. I just really wanna feel a nice thick dick inside of me."

"What the hell is wrong with you, girl? Quit undressing yourself!"

"NO!" Tori yelled. She whipped off her shirt to show the world how she looked in just a bra and panties. I kept trying to hold in a laugh, this was just too good.

Vega jumped up and grabbed André's hand, forcing it onto one of her breasts.

"Doesn't that feel good, André? Don't you want some more?" She was moving his hand to touch around everywhere. She sounded crazy practically screaming the words that she was saying.

André yanked his hand away and stepped back.

Tori didn't let a second get in before she leaped forward and forced her hand down Andre's pants.

André yelped and fell backwards and in that moment, Beck had gotten back on his feet, zipped up his jeans, and jumped Tori, having them both fall to the ground.

"I need someone! And if you two won't, I know of plenty of others that will." Vega's eyes zoomed in on mine. "JADE! You don't care about kissing a girl. I bet you even fantasize about doing one."

I hid the blush pretty well considering how the only girl I really would do is just a few feet from me holding a camera that's capturing every bit of this. I commented slyly, "I wouldn't do anyone who was so desperate to be a slut that they would have sex in the middle of a school. Such weakness, there."

Tori didn't even let that phase her and she twisted her around to find someone else.

"WILL ONE OF YOU HORNY BOYS FREAKIN' FUCK ME!"

"Tori Vega!"

Everyone turned to the sound of the principal's voice. He looked…pissed as fuck. Ha.

"Get your clothes on, now, young lady. And follow me."

He walked away with a nice red blush on his face. I'm not going to lie, Tori had a nice body, but she really let herself go.

Tori angrily caught up the principal and everyone could see how soaked her underwear was.

I looked at Cat and she had a slight blush on her as well but she found me quickly enough and gave me a thumbs up, the blush turning into a wide smiling knowing that we got a good revenge, and an even better one when this thing goes on the internet.

I was thinking to myself that things might actually be okay from here. I could take on anyone if I had to, Beck wasn't a problem at all, and revenge is simple as taking an innocent pill without knowing.

I was very wrong.


	9. Celebrating the Victory

**Disclaimer: I, for one, know for a fact that I do not own Victorious. If anyone is delirious enough to think that I do, then they are surely lying, and should be put somewhere so that they'll never cause anyone trouble, especially me, because I don't own Victorious . and do not want to get into trouble.**

**A/N: Ok. So, this chapter took a little while to do because I am out of my emotional state to really be into lemons so I had to ask a couple of people for their opinion and help and all that good stuff. On the bright side, while I was asking them, I was writing the chapter after this. So, expect my next chapter to actually be on time next Wednesday and I really hope I don't disappoint people this chapter. I worked hard but I guess I'm too pure .**

_**THIS IS MY FINAL WARNING THAT THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRICT YURI LEMON! I DO NOT WANT TO GET ANY COMPLAINTS SAYING THAT I DID NOT WARN ANYONE ABOUT THIS! THIS STORY IS RATED M PEOPLE!**  
><em>

_-__**Sweetkittens**_

_-__**No**_

_**-Butterpie**_

_**-No**_

_**-Jadiekins **_

_**-Hell no.**_

Cat and I were passing notes during class. She wanted to think of a pet name for me. I really had no idea why I even let her try, I wouldn't let her call me anything different or…cute. Ugh. I'm only doing this to please her. She calls me that damn nickname anyways, Jadey, without my consent. Not like I could stop her anyways.

_**-I will eventually find one that you like, Jadey!**_

_**-No way, Cat. There is no nickname on the planet that will ever fit me. And quit calling me Jadey**_

_**-Make me (:**_

I sighed and looked at her. She turned to face me and stuck her tongue out playfully. I turned back down to the note and tried to suppress the grin, but was unable to at least a little bit. I saw Cat smile from the corner of my eye.

_**-I'm taking you home and you're sleeping over tonight.**_

The paper was sent over to her and she read it quickly, looked at me and nodded, wrote something down, and then gave it back.

_**-KayKay :D Can't wait. 33**_

With Vega out of the class, and from what I heard also out of the school, everything seemed more at peace, more in place. There was no bitch to take all the credit for everyone else. All she was even able to do was sing a little, and her voice got so overplayed just after her first day here. Rumor was that her little stunt caused a big commotion. She didn't even know what she was doing. Her parents tried to put the blame on hormones or drugs because Tori never acted that way, but the principal wouldn't hear it. What she did was just too out of line and she was supposed to be sane enough to control her actions. She was not only kicked out of Hollywood Arts, but all other schools in the county know about what she did so now she has to be home schooled or her parents have to get very rich very fast.

But something didn't really seem right. I mean, I can very much expect Vega to lash out at one point in time but it seemed like that event caused something else to trigger. I couldn't put my finger on it but something in my head told me that the revenge wasn't completely successful, that something wasn't right.

I shook my head. The feeling was probably because I had something special planned tonight. For Cat. Maybe my mind thought that it wasn't going to go well? Like a premonition? It better go well…if my mind knows what's good for it.

_RIIINNNGGG_

And that was the lovely sound that I've been waiting for all day.

I jumped out of my seat and grabbed Cat's wrist before she even stood.

"Jade?" Her chocolate brown eyes were shiny with surprise.

"I'm abducting you. There's no escape." I let a sinister smile show.

Cat didn't have enough time to make a response as I forced her out of her seat and almost ran with her out of the room. We probably made a scene, but I didn't care. It was time to celebrate our wonderful victory.

* * *

><p>I led Cat all the way out of school, not acknowledging the glares that we got, and forced her into my car, but I guess it wasn't really forcing since she practically bounced into it. I got in the drivers seat and sped off to the place where I reside.<p>

"So…" Cat said, her lips making an o that lasted.

"Hm?"

"Why're you stealing me, Jadey?"

I groaned at the nickname and took a quick, slightly annoyed look at her. She just smiled, knowing that she got on my nerves and that I wouldn't do anything about it.

"Because I wanted to do something special with you tonight. You were great at filming Vega this morning and you deserve something for it."

"Oo like a present?" Her eyes widened in excitement.

"Something like that…It's one you have to say yes to, if you want it."

"Oh I'll definitely say yes! To anything that you'd want to give me. It'd be special even if it wasn't something that you could wrap."

"Well it definitely isn't something that's wrap-able…" I muttered to myself.

"What?"

"Oh uh," I stumbled for a second with my wording. "I actually was curious about where you sleep nowadays. I didn't want to really bring it up before but knowing that you can't go home…"

Cat quieted down and took a breath. She was still looking at me, though, so I assumed that the topic didn't bother her as much anymore. Or maybe the pill was just in affect again. Always have to add in the pill.

"I stay with my group now. They take me to school and back and keep me safe but let me go wherever I want to whenever I want to. They won't mind that I'm spending the night with you. They know who you are and trust you…to a point. I guess you can say that they're very protective of me."

I nodded my head. It was good that Cat had this family. It's apparently better than her old one, couldn't even accept her for who she was, and wouldn't even try to save her from a life of being a slave to colorful candies.

"So they know about us?"

Cat cocked her head in confusion. "What about us?"

"You know. That we…" I wasn't really sure what to say. It kind of felt weird to say that she was my girlfriend. I don't think it even hit me yet that that's what Cat is to me now. We're dating. We're together. "That you're mine and I'm yours?"

Her confusion morphed into a Cheshire grin.

"Yeah they do." She still held the grin. She was hiding something, I knew it. Her smiling in that way wasn't normal Cat, even without the drugs.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Huh?"

"You knew what I was talking about, didn't you?" Her smile grew.

"Maybeee."

"Then why make me continue?"

She happily moved her head to my shoulder and looked at me. "I just wanted to hear you say it."

"Say what? That you're my girlfriend?" The word felt special on my tongue when I actually said it out loud like it wasn't just for ordinary conversation, that it actually held meaning behind it.

"Ahh. That's like…music to my ears! Say it again, Jadey."

I sighed, "I'll say it again if you stop calling me Jadey."

"Come on, you know you like it. It's my special name for you. And only I call you it."

"How would you like it if I called you Kitty Cat?" I peered through my mirror at her. Her head was still facing me and there was that smile plastered on her that looks as if it never comes off.

"I love it! Would you call me that, please?" Cat yipped.

"No! I'm trying to make you stop calling me a nickname." I shook my head in frustration. It was hard driving while Cat was torturing me with this subject.

"But Jade! That's what we're supposed to do with each other."

"I'll just call you my girlfriend and that's the only other name that you'll get."

Cat frowned at me, but I could tell that it wasn't legitimate.

"I'm going to break you at some point, Jadey."

"CAT!"

* * *

><p>The car parked in the driveway when it reached a seemingly normal house. Key word: seemingly. Outside it looks like any other house. Dull paint. Dull environment. Dull everything. It's what's inside that's very far from dull.<p>

"But if you got a nickname then we can have like secret stuff between us that no one would know! It'll be so cool!" Cat was still continuing her attempts at me accepting a different title for myself. I kept refusing, though. If there was one part of me that I want the same from before all of this happened, it would be my name.

"Shh-shh. Cat, can you be quiet? Or calm down? Or take a chill pill? I can't believe that one can be taken literally now…"

Cat made a soft giggle. I looked at her sternly and in response, she grew serious.

"I don't want my parents to know that you're here. It's best if they think its just me."

"But…why Jade? Do they not like me or something?" Cat's face dropped quickly into sadness.

"It's not that…It's just…They're not very good parents. If they knew you were here, it would cause commotion that might bring troubles for the both of us. I wouldn't bring you here if I didn't think that I would be able to protect you. They don't bother me anyways. The other night…with the storm…they weren't even home so I could do whatever. But now they're here and I need to keep guard."

The redhead's expression was unreadable.

"What?" I asked.

Cat grabbed my hand carefully with both of hers and stared intensely at me.

"I'm not scared when you're around to protect me."

I smiled and led her away from my car and into my living hell.

"I'm home! Don't bother me!" I yelled when I opened the door and walked in, making sure that Cat was safely hidden behind me.

"Shut up! Your mom and I are doing something!" That bitch was as far from my mother as a flea would be but my father would never know the difference. He never even cares what I think about anything. I heard the giggles and moans coming from the other room. I just hoped that Cat didn't hear them, too.

"Let's just go, Cat," I muttered as I rushed with her down the hall and to my room. The door was slammed behind me and I locked it firmly. It was a very nice collection of locks. Dear old daddy didn't notice me putting them in, but they'll keep anybody out.

"I hate them." My anger was directed at the door. It was the door's fault that my dad didn't care enough about me. It was the door's fault that he abused me with lack of love ever since I left my mom's womb. It was that damn door's fault that I was messed up because of all of the torture's that I was put through because I didn't have a damn father to protect me from the dangers, to tell me that I could go on with my dreams, to assure me that life was good if you wiped away the bad, that there is such thing as love in the world, and that it is possible to be happy in such a crazy messed up place. It was all that damn door's fault.

"GAH!" I struck the board of the door with all that I had, making a cracking sound which I wasn't sure came from the door or my hand.

I didn't hear Cat say my name. I only felt the cold, smooth edge of the door behind my knuckles.

"I fucking hate it!"

Beside the door was a dresser that had a nice sharp pair of scissors lines with red and black paint to create swirls of madness. I took them from the comfortable position that they were in and slammed them into the door where they stuck like glue. I ripped them out of the wood and was about to slam it again until Cat's hand grabbed my own to stop me.

I faced her with anger. I'm allowed to express myself in my domain however I want.

"Let go, Cat."

"No."

"I don't want to put my anger at you. I'd rather this door get hurt."

"Then put it somewhere else. You don't need to punch something if you're wired up like this."

Cat quickly maneuvered her hand around mine to take away the scissors and put them back where they belonged.

I sighed. It was best that Cat didn't see that side of me. It could scare a person.

"Come," I gestured her to sit on the bed. I went to sit beside her.

"What's got you so mad?" she asked. We were so close that our thighs were touching, I noticed.

"My father…I'm not his daughter to him. He'd rather I get lost and stay lost than to come back to this house night after night and bug him for existing."

"That's not very nice at all…" Cat put her hand on mine and rubbed it slightly. My eyes went to them and I smiled a little at the care that she was giving me.

"Forget about it. One day, I will escape this place," I turned towards her. "And I'll take you with me."

I leaned in to peck her on the lips and leaned back. She was a little bit flustered but returned to her peppy self in no time.

"So, what was that surprise that you wanted to show me?"

"It had to do with this morning…" My hand went up to cup her face as I spoke, I wanted to start this off nice and easy.

"What about it?"

"I saw that you were a little bit sad…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat frowned.

I chuckled before saying, "I wanted to just cheer you up a bit, Cat. You just looked down. Was anything wrong?"

"Well…" Cat looked away, making my hand drop from her face. "I knew what you were going to do to Tori and… I guess I just let my imagination get the best of me."

"Hm?" I thought I saw where this was going…but I wasn't exactly sure.

"You made her all…horny." I saw that she had a problem with that word. Her pure little self was a bit adorable. "And then she said that you would probably want to do her and I got…jealous. I wanted to uhm…be in that position and I wanted you to…"

I held my hand up to stop her.

Without any words or explanation, I leaned back over to make mouth to mouth contact. This time, it wasn't going to be soft and delicate.

It took a second for Cat to realize what was going on, but once she got her bearings, she was right into it. Our mouths crushed each other with force and I pushed her forward so that she was lying down on my bed.

The okay from her was all I needed to start.

At the moment, it felt as if Cat was my personal doll, that I could do whatever I wanted to, to have her bend to my will. I felt her delicate hands go around my neck, trying to pull me more into her body. I tugged at her lip slightly to open her mouth. As she complied with my request, our tongues started to dance with each other. Cat moaned at lost contact as I pulled away from her. Looking her straight in the eye, I gave her a small smirk. Her eyes were filled with lust, lust that was all pointed towards me. I was filled with pride knowing I made her like this.

My hands had a mind of their own roaming around Cat's beautiful body; I started to slowly pull up Cat's shirt all the while leaving little wet devilish kisses along her stomach. Finally reaching my destination, Cat slightly moved her body forward to help me get her shirt off. After she did that, she unclasped her bra to allow me better access to the two precious breasts that were my destination.

Lowering my mouth onto her right nipple, I begun to suck all around, giving it the attention it needed; one of my hands had started to massage her left one to not have it left alone. Cat moaned in pleasure arching her back to give me better access. I soon switched places, not leaving one spot untouched. The girl's hands went through my strands so they had something to do while I pleasured her.

"Jade…" Cat whispered. I pushed myself up from her body to look at her. Sweat had started to form all over her body but she was smiling as she looked upon me with those mesmerizing brown eyes.

"I want to make you scream with pleasure, Cat," I stated, and I really didn't know why I did. Those were my thoughts, and it was what I really wanted. My hands went down to Cat's shorts and unbuttoned them slowly. I wanted to see every reaction that Cat made. I wish I could've gotten this on film.

Cat only looked at me though, like a child waiting for someone to open their Christmas present. Her eyes were wide and curious. She's never felt pure pleasure before, only fear and pain. I was going to make sure this was the best thing she's ever experienced.

The shorts were all the way off now. At the last bit, Cat kicked them to the edge of the room.

"Look's like someone's excited," I smirked. Cat giggled but she still looked a bit nervous.

"This won't hurt, will it?" Cat asked innocently.

"This won't hurt at all. Just lay back, relax, and I'll do all of the work."

I pulled her bright pink underwear off her small butt, exposing everything down there. Cat unconsciously put her legs together to hide me from the moistness, but I gently pulled the legs apart.

"Here," I started to stroke her inner thigh carefully. I wanted to tease her a little. I wanted her to beg a little for me. I wanted her to want this, to not be afraid of this, to practically need this. "Doesn't this feel nice? Like tingling sensations?"

Cat nodded. I then slid my hands lower to touch the lids of her pussy while she shivered as I did so. They were wet; completely drenched. Cat gasped and I smiled. It was a good gasp. Now to make the gasp turn into better things.

Her clit was my first victim. I started to massage it slowly so that she knew what it was, that it was meant for pleasure. I heard her moan a little, but that only turned me on. I pressed harder on her clit and rubbed it more. Cat leaned backwards and moaned louder this time.

"This is only the beginning, my sweet Cat."

I bent down so that I started to kiss her mouth while rubbing her clit. She smiled throughout it and moans were escaping from her at every second. I leaned over to nibble on her ear a little, which gave great response, before I started to kiss my way back to her breasts. I suckled them, still massaging her clit very roughly, and she kept moving around at every new sensation.

I then stopped rubbing her quickly. She noticed the difference fast.

"Jade-"

I then had my fingers slither their way to her center and rub over them lightly, which made Cat stop mid sentence. They then plunged into her pussy.

Cat yelped as I slowly started to pump one finger in and out of her pussy. It didn't faze her as much as I'd hope it would, so I added another finger and pumped faster.

"Ohh…ohh Jade," Cat muttered with a groan.

I could feel her walls tightening and her body was rocking to the rhythm of my fingers.

"Jade!"

I added another finger and pumped much faster while continuing to suck and kiss around and on a nipple of hers with my other hand rubbing the unattended one. Cat was moaning with every breath now. Her legs were bucking and her eyes were closed.

"Do you want more?" I asked, wanting to know exactly what she was thinking.

"There can be more?" Cat breathed out in a rush.

"Why, of course. You think this is just it? I can make emotions explode out of you. It's called an orgasm."

"An orgasm?" Cat was straining just to talk.

I stopped rubbing her nipple to reach down below again and put my head down between her legs.

"Jade?"

I stopped pumping and stuck my tongue out to lick up her juices right where they came from.

"Ohhh…" Cat moaned at my tongue's touch.

I nibbled her clit a little before licking my way into her precious area.

Cat's legs started to buck again against my face but I didn't give up. I continued to graze my teeth and send my tongue in every possible place. At some point, I replaced my tongue with my fingers again and started pumping viciously. Cat was heating up, bouncing like crazy, with her walls closing in on my fingers.

Cat was moaning and crying and begging. Oh she was begging like it was for her life.

"Jade! Jade, please more! More!"

"Faster?"

"Yes! JADE! PLEASE! HARDER! FASTER!"

And so I did as commanded and in no time at all, Cat screamed her last cry and slumped into the bed.

I stood over her and licked my fingers from the leftover juices.

"How'd you like that, Cat?"

It took a second for Cat to answer but the answer was definitely worth it all. "Wow…"

I smiled at her and stroked her very red cheek. The color matched her hair perfectly.

"Glad you liked it."

Out of nowhere, Cat replied, "I want to do that to you, too. I want to make you feel that joy and pleasure."

"Maybe some other time, Cat. It's late and I'm tired myself."

"Can't I at least…"

"At least?" I raised a brow at her with curiosity. This was definitely a side of Cat I never see.

"At least see what's under your clothes?"

I blushed at the fact that that was what she was thinking of; not that I gave her a good time, but that she wants to see me naked.

"Alright then."

I took off my shirt with ease and watched Cat as she watched me. Her eyes grew when I slowly took off my bra to expose my breasts. When my pants and underwear slid off my body, Cat's entire face grew red.

"Hey, you wanted this." I laughed at her reaction.

"I was just curious…"

I went over to her and sat beside her, running my fingers through her red locks and watching her body glisten.

"It's okay. You're still an amateur to this life."

"What's that supposed to mean…" Cat said with a yawn.

I chuckled and responded, "The red pill makes you want sex a lot and this was without it, those feelings that you had. Haven't you ever taken it?"

The girl weakly shook her head.

"Well, that's what you feel. You still don't know your way around so there's bound to be numerous questions, more than you would normally ask."

Cat giggled a little and rolled over on the bed. I took that as a cue to layside her and have her curl into me.

"Goodnight, Jadey."

I let the nickname slide as I responded, "Goodnight, sweet Cat."

And even after all of this, something still didn't feel all quite right.


	10. Dreams Suck

**Disclaimer: I *insert name here* do not own Victorious. I just manipulate the story into my own messed up way and post it online so that others can read and comment and help improve the awesomeness that is able to be made from a show that is definitely not mine. Got it? Good (:**

**A/N: So, I dislike the fact that this chapter is shorter than the ones previous but not so short that it isn't really a chapter. I just have points where I like to leave off as some form of cliffhanger. I don't know. I like cliffhangers (just not when I'm reading them :P) **

**Anyways. I want to do a little dance right now because, for the first time, I have achieved 50 reviews :D! Considering the fact that I only ever made almost 2 full stories and 2 little bits of one, this impressed me much. I really do enjoy when people review and when someone wants me to do something, I try to make it so that I please those someones. So, I don't really like to push people to reviewing, but I do in fact enjoy that and I really want to thank those who actually review. But I'm not going to be all like, "REVIEW OR YOU WON'T GET CHAPTERS! ROARRRR". Yeah. No.**

** Oh yeah, one last thing. My friend wanted me to add that there was some parts of the sex scene last chapter that she in fact wrote and wanted to be known about. Her fanfiction name is "Nyx Pax" and she is amazing *hearts*. Anyways, that is all, and thank you for everyone who has read and enjoyed this story (:. **

I've never felt so comfortable in my life. One of my arms was carelessly wrapped around Cat's stomach as we spooned together, still with no clothes, I might add. Her body heat kept mine warm and the smells that surrounded her were just so nice that I would love life inhaling it every day. Cat's back was against my torso and my chin rested on her shoulder. I could tell that she was relaxed, too, because she was still snoring lightly and her beautiful face held a smile. The girl must've been having nice dreams.

I was way too restless to sleep so I carefully got out of bed without bothering her. She didn't even wake. All Cat did was turn over and grab the pillow that I was sleeping on, cuddling with it as if to replace me. I wanted to be that pillow, but I knew that I would never get to sleep unless I exhausted this unnecessary energy.

The clock said that it was early morning, but I never really experienced nights like this with actual content. So with that said, I made my way over to the window and opened it up, allowing the cool air from outside to collide with my warm body, hoping that it would calm down the heat that Cat gave me.

I closed my eyes and stuck my head out the window. It felt so nice. For once, I wasn't mad or angry or annoyed or wanting to get someone back. I was happy. For once, I was happy. Beck never made me feel this way. He made me feel like I could live through life but never had he actually made me want to admit that I was happy and have that emotion be real and true. I couldn't exactly describe my feelings. I didn't even know who I really was anymore. Or maybe, I'm still the same old Jade, but with Cat, and only Cat, I was this new Jade that thought that there was good in the world, even if all of it came from a short little peppy redhead that normally didn't know the time of day.

Maybe my future would actually be bright. Maybe I wouldn't grow up hating everyone and being alone, a single actress or singer or play writer. Maybe I would end up with Cat and together we would face the world and prove that two people can change millions.

Maybe—

A noise stopped my thoughts and my eyes opened immediately. It sounded like a rustling of bushes.

"Who's there?" I asked. I said it lowly so it wouldn't wake Cat but loud enough so that if anyone was out there, they would hear me. "I know that someone is out there, and if you don't show yourself, I will come after you with my gun."

I actually did have a gun stored somewhere in this house. If you were me, you really had use for one. But I probably didn't have enough time to get it if this unknown person were to attack me. I then remembered that I was completely stripped naked. If this turned into a brawl, I probably wouldn't fare well in this weather.

I grabbed a pair of scissors instead, making it seem like I did have something in my hand, and if this person did come close enough, I could do some damage.

A flicker of movement crossed my sight and I whipped my head around towards it. I saw a girl that had blonde hair and blue eyes standing under a overhang of trees and moss. She was looking right into my eyes and it gave me a chill that ran up and down my spine. It was definitely out of the ordinary. No one gave me a chill like that, but this girl, this teenager I should say, had something dangerous about her. She looked oddly familiar, too. I knew that I saw her recently, but I couldn't put my finger on where.

"Are you a freaking pervert, too?" I questioned the girl. She didn't say a word; she only stared at me coldly.

"Well? What do you want? You're being a creep stalking two girls at a sleepover. You're sick in the mind! Get away before I call the police!"

The girl backed away slowly, but the expression on her face was still mad. She reminded me of a dog that knew when it should back down, but would also wait until later to get its chance to attack again.

I wouldn't allow this unknown freak to upset my mood, so when she was out of sight, I closed the window, put the curtains in front of it, and went back to the bed where Cat lay unmoved.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," I murmured as I returned to my spot on the bed and stroked Cat's cheek softly. She smiled again at the touch and whispered something, but I couldn't exactly tell what. I guessed by now that at times she did sleep talk. It was pretty cute and way better than Beck's snores.

Cat's hands released the pillow when I was near and grabbed onto my body lightly. I allowed her to hold on to me as she did with the pillow and exhaustion finally crept into me as I fell asleep in Cat's arms.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hold on to her arms!"<em>

"_Tie her up nice and tight. Don't want her getting loose."_

_Voices rang in my ears but there were no people to place those voices. All I saw was black but I still kept hearing people yelling. I felt things, too. I felt something wrap around my ankles and wrists and they were yanked behind me. My ankles were forced downwards while my wrists were forced upwards. They were stuck there and as hard as I tried to pull away, they wouldn't budge._

"_Alright. Take off the blindfold." _

_It was with those words did I realize that something was in fact blocking my sight. Someone took off the blindfold and exposed me to a place that was still dim. It took a second for my eyes to focus, but when they did, I saw a dozen people in front of me staring at me with bland faces. All of them had nothing about themselves that would make them different from one another. Except one person. A teenage girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. _

_I tried to speak out, to command them to release my ankles and wrists, but I found that I had no voice. I was unable to say anything even when I tried to yell. I looked around and saw that I was tied up on a pole and had no means of escape. Something rolled down the sides of my head and my heartbeat was pumping loudly in my ears. I started to get scared. _

"_What do we have here?" the blonde asked, her teeth were shown in a smile but there wasn't anything happy about it._

"_Jade West," some random person replied to her._

"_What are her crimes?"the girl asked again. She never took her eyes off me and I couldn't do the same._

"_She was told about us. She knows everything that we do. She is an outsider. She knows too much. She must be punished."_

_The blonde nodded her head and pointed at me. With no words at all, three people from the group came over to the pole and stood on each side._

"_Strip her."_

_The people started ripping at my clothes. Fabric was teared and shredded from my skin and I felt the nails of these people scrape into my body. I stifled a yell, not that I could've yelled anyways, and refused to break eye contact from the girl. She was the enemy. The blood that I felt dripping down my skin was caused by this blue eyed girl with no soul. _

_I was completely bare. Nothing hid my body from these horrors of people. Blood mixed with a cold sweat ran along my skin. I knew that I was scared shitless because I never sweat._

_The girl held her hand out and a bland person went over to her and placed something in her palm. I focused and saw that she was now holding a dagger with rust covering some of the shine of the metal. Wait, it wasn't rust. It was dried blood. _

_The girl continued to stare at me and kept her smile as she said something so simple, so innocent, but it meant too much to me._

"_Cat."_

_. The name echoed in my head. Cat was here? That meant that I could be saved. But this demon girl summoned her. Does that mean that Cat's working with the blue eyed girl?_

_In response, a short velvet haired girl walked into the light. Her eyes held no life as she went over to the blonde. I tried to speak to her for help, but even as I wiggled in my spot, Cat didn't notice me. _

"_You know what you have to do." The blonde gave Cat the dagger and Cat held onto it forcefully. _

_Everyone faced me then, the blonde, the blands, and Cat. They all took out something from their pockets and showed it to me. It was a pill. Half black and half red. Then, all at once, each and every one of them put their hands to their mouth and swallowed the pill down._

_I knew then that Cat wouldn't save me. She was brainwashed from these pills. These people messed her up in the mind and there was no way in getting her back. I had no hope left. _

_The blonde nodded her head and Cat approached me. She didn't falter in her steps, she didn't even look at me. The blade in her hand reflected my image. I was scared, worried, sweaty and misshapen. This is my punishment for knowing too much. For knowing anything. Cat has her loyalty to her family and I am no exception. _

"_Do it." I didn't even look at the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. I'd rather my last sight be Cat digging a weapon into my heart than a person who wasn't hurting me at all. _

_I expected the dagger to immediately pierce my heart, but I was stunned when I saw Cat bend down. She wasn't going to attack above. The blade was directed to a place that wasn't at all above my waist. _

"_This will hurt you more than it will hurt me." Cat finally spoke but the words crushed my heart. I was trying to talk to her, to scream to yell to say anything to her that might make her stop, but it was futile. I had lost Cat. _

_The dagger neared my thighs but went more under. It went right to my center, and without any warning at all, the blade entered and I felt hot pain enter my system from down below. _

_I was finally allowed to scream. I used everything that I had to yell to the heavens that I was in pain, that I was being tortured. I felt the gooeyness of my blood escape down my thighs and the firey tears ran down my cheeks. I had to close my eyes because I didn't want to see Cat hurt me in my most sensitive place. _

_Cat stabbed again, and again, and again. Every time a new pain released throughout my body, it was quickly diminished just for another one to replace it. _

"_Please," I begged. "Please, stop this, Cat. Remember? I'm Jade. Please, remember me."_

_It was useless to try to persuade her as she continued to jab the weapon in me and pull it out swiftly. She then started to drag the blade higher but allowed it to stop piercing my skin. The cold metal made me shiver. The blood and the tears haven't stopped running down my body. _

"_Cat…" I whimpered. I had my eyes look into hers. The brown orbs were dead to the world. They didn't see me at all. I didn't think that they saw anything. The pills in her mind forbade her to. _

_She continued raising the dagger until it was finally at my heart, where I originally thought she was going to harm me._

"_Please…" I tried again. This was my last time to maybe get to her, to make her see through the pills and notice reality. _

"_I love you."Those words that I said as my final plead were filled with every emotion that I was able to express. It came straight from the heart, the place where the blade would end everything about me. _

_Cat didn't even look at me as she said in a monotone voice, "You must be punished."_

_I didn't even have time to make another sound as the dagger's reflective surface crashed into my skin and allowed liquid the color of Cat's hair to flood everywhere. _

* * *

><p>"NO!" I screamed as I sat up in bed. I was plastered with sweat and my heartbeat was racing as if it was about to burst. I checked over my body quickly, touching the skin above my heart, feeling the sides of my thighs, everything that was touched before to check if there was any blood. I made a big sigh of relief when I found nothing and fell back against the bed.<p>

"Jade?" Cat's head hovered over my body after getting up. I realized that I must've jerked out of her arms and she fell backwards at the action. Cat looked so worried at me with her hair in a giant mess and her big brown eyes just staring. "Did you have a nightmare?"

I wanted to tear up a little. It wasn't only a nightmare. The only person in the world that could make me happy harmed me in the worst way possible and then finished me off.

"I…" I had no idea what to say. Half of me didn't want to share what happened and the other half wanted her comfort. The dream replayed in my head and I realized that everything connected to her gang; the pills, the people, why they harmed me, and even the raping.

I figured that maybe telling it would help in some way, that if Cat knew about it she would reassure me of something good. It practically had to deal with her and if anyone could calm me, it was the girl sitting next to me in the bed.

"I dreamt of being tied up by a lot of people. They said that I knew information that I shouldn't and then they stripped me down before the main person called…" I stopped. Cat looked at me expectantly but I turned away from her as I forced myself to continue. "She called you over. She gave you a dagger and ordered you to come up to me and stab me…in a certain area multiple times. I tried to plead you to stop but you didn't. And then you stabbed me in the heart."

I couldn't even turn my head towards her. I was too ashamed to admit that my mind made up a scenerio where she would hurt me. I left out the main parts about the pills and the things that I said…the whole me admitting my love to her. I was scared of that, too. About both of us being so strongly connected that we could call it love. Love could always lead to bad places. It could break people up and cause them to be so far apart that they never talk to each other again. Even though this nightmare scarred me, I didn't want Cat to go.

"It was only a dream…" Cat murmured. She was taking in all that I said and tried to figure out a way to help me. If I was in her shoes, I wouldn't know what to say, either.

I finally looked at Cat to find her looking down on the bed sadly.

"I would never stab you, Jade. Never. I…"

She looked up towards me and grabbed my hand carefully. My guess is that she didn't want me to freak out at a touch by her. I kept running through my head that it was only a dream. She wouldn't actually do that. The world that I was in was filled with nothing but evil doppelgangers.

"Jade, I love you."

Cat's cheeks were bright red as she spoke the very words that I attempted so that she would not murder me. They were the truth, I knew it. Cat would never have said those words in that tone to a person unless she really meant it. It must've taken her a lot of guts.

I was quiet. Cat loosened the grip on my hand but I held firmly onto hers. She took that in a good way and leaned over to kiss me lightly on the cheek. I blushed on command but couldn't say anything back. I know that I said it in my dreams but…I don't know. It was hard…Those words mean everything, even if people throw them around like monkeys do with their crap. They mean everything to me and although I was flattered that Cat would say that…I don't know what it would mean if I did the same.

"I would kill myself if I ever harmed you in any way," Cat said a bit awkwardly because I didn't respond.

"Oh, please don't, Cat. You normally think you ruined someone on a daily basis; accidentally tripping them or saying something wrong. You'd be killing yourself everyday."

I allowed myself to smirk slightly at the girl, half thankful that I was able to add in a joke, and she knew that I was feeling better so she laughed at my joke. I guess that her admitting her love eased something. Maybe that was what I worried about, love being the underlying meaning of my dream. God, that sounds so lame.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked but continued laughing as she said so.

"I'm just saying that your definition of harming someone would include every little way."

Cat blushed again because she knew that it was true.

It took a couple minutes of us laughing and teasing each other until we both calmed down. I then remembered the other event from last night and looked at Cat seriously.

"Cat?"

Cat saw my expression and the happy-go-lucky attitude of hers depressed a little.

"Someone came for a visit last night…" Cat looked at me confused. "This random chick with blonde hair and blue eyes was outside of our window just staring in at us. I told her to piss off and she left without a word but something seemed weird about her." I felt a bit uneasy at the memory of that same girl that was stalking us also being in my dreams.

"She was the main person of the group in my dreams, too," I admitted. "As weird as that was."

I thought Cat would just be scared at the unknown person but she wasn't only scared; Cat looked terrified. It was as if the person that I mentioned was more than just a stalker, but someone that would kill us in the dead of night.

"No," Cat muttered. "No, no, no. This can't be happening."

"What, Cat? Who is this person?" I ran through my mind how the girl looked again and tried to place her. It hit me when I remembered that she was at the scene when I got my revenge on Tori. She was the nobody that was looking in with the rest of the crowd. "Isn't she just some girl from school? She was part of the group of people that was watching Tori freak out so she's just some creepy kid."

"Jade, she's not some random kid that goes to our school."

"What do you mean? Who else could she be?"

"Jade…" Cat looked at me with the worst worry that I've seen her yet. "She was the girl who found me in the ghetto years ago. She introduced me to the gang."


	11. I Love You, Daddy

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious. Some dude named Dan does. I am 1) not named Dan and 2) not a boy. *checks down to make sure I have boobs* Yup, not a boy.**

**A/N: Woot. I feel like high fiveing someone because I got this done on a Wednesday. Though I don't feel like this chapter is all that good...but I'm leading it towards something good. And I'm wondering if I'm being a little too...dark? I mean...unfortunately...sometimes that's how I write when I'm in that mood. I can seriously go all romantic on you people if I wanted to, but I normally just write whatever I'm feeling and since romance isn't really in the top spot of my own emotions...well, I try. Anyways, since Winter Break is just around the corner, my goal for next time is to not only have another chapter put up, but to also fix the flaws in the other chapters. I think that would help a lot. It definitely would ease things for me. So, any comments, feel free to share. I'm up for criticism (so long as they don't make me cry :'{). Hope you enjoy this and once again, thanks for reading :D**

**Oh. One more thing. I used the name Delta because it's a nickname that I call a friend of mine since we're into this game called Bioshock and that just so happens to be the name of a character. I liked it so...yeah. Thought I should explain that. Okay. Ima shut up now. :l**

I was stunned. No, that's a horrible word to use. I was more like bewildered. I was also angry. And violated. And…I just wasn't anywhere near happy. From what Cat told me, some person from her gang had been following both of us and definitely invaded our privacy. Someone needed an ass-whooping. I wanted to punch that bitch for all that it was worth. She gave me a nightmare and practically scared me half to death. She made me mad, again, when I was just in the middle of complete serenity. I hated that girl.

My hands were clutched at my sides, ready to be thrown out and slammed into a certain blonde's face. But Cat was acting different. All she was doing was sitting in the same position, hands up by her face, eyes shut tight, and muttering "No" over and over again. She could be scared, or worried, or petrified, or I don't know, another Cat emotion that I have yet to discover.

"Cat," I attempted, still a little pissed. Sitting here and saying no isn't helping at all. I'm not even sure what all of this meant to her.

"No, no, no, no."

"Cat?" My flare calmed down at the sight of her cringing in fear. Here I was wanting to mutilate someone, but this girl sitting in the same bed as me was going crazy even when she had me to protect her.

But she still didn't hear me. I wasn't sure if this was her happy place, but if it was, then I really didn't want to know what her sad place was.

I carefully reached over to her and lightly grabbed her hands, doing all that I could to pull them away from her face without being rough.

"Please, Cat. Calm down. You freak out too easily."

Cat's eyes were filled with terror when she finally opened them and looked at me.

"You don't understand. They know. They know that you know about the pills and about them and about everything! I don't know why they sent Delta but it can't be a good reason-"

"That blonde haired chick's name is Delta?" I interrupted.

"Yeah." Cat looked at me with a little bit of curiosity mixed in with her fear.

"That's kind of a weird name for someone in a gang. Isn't that a Greek letter for something?"

She shrugged at me and sniffled. "We all pick our names."

I breathed a small laugh. Then again, if this so called Delta held me at gunpoint, it could be a very murderous name.

"She's very violent, Jade. You have no idea what she can do."

"I know she can stalk me very easily. Is there any classes you can take for that? If so, I think Sinjin is taking the same class."

"Jade, this is serious." Our eyes met again and I saw that hers were tearing up, a small drop of sadness escaping down her cheeks.

"She can't be more violent than me. I know 100 ways to kill someone using only a small pair of scissors."

"But she has an army of people that can do the same but with pocket knives. We're all a family, Jade. And we had only one rule and that was to keep silent with outsiders."

Outsiders. That word was in my dream, too. The word made me feel insignificant. Insignificant is the last thing that I wanted to be.

"Come on. You really think that I can't take her?"

"If it was only her, then yeah, I have no doubt that you can beat her. But it's not just her. Things are going to happen fast. I've seen this before. It's not pretty."

It sounded like Cat wanted to tell me another story, but just because we figured out that we both were in possible danger, doesn't mean that the entire world has to stop. I looked around her at the clock to find that it said five thirty. We had to get ready for school soon.

"Tell me on the way to school. You look like you need a hot shower."

Cat just looked at me, tear streaks still plastered on her face. She nodded her head, though, and calmly said, "Kaykay."

I then remembered that we were not the only ones in the house like before.

"Shit," I muttered at the realization. My parents still shouldn't know that Cat's here. I really didn't want to emotionally scar her more than she already had been this morning.

Cat arched a brow at my cussing and asked, "What?"

"I'm going to have to sneak you into the bathroom. Grab some clothes." She slowly got out of bed before quickly walking over to my drawers and opening the one that I had just for her. Cat used to come over at times for some sleepovers earlier on and always forgot to take her clothes back after changing. It really wasn't in me to make the hassle and return them to her, so I made a drawer space just for her clothes and whenever she needed extras, she could just take from there. It works out perfectly.

"Alright," she stated when she was done.

"Come," I grabbed a towel that I normally just left on the dresser and ushered her over to me, wrapping the girl in the fabric and then grabbing her hand. I didn't want her wandering off by accident and my parents just so happen to get a nice glimpse of her naked body. I didn't bother with me. Whether I burned their corneas or not, I really didn't care.

I forced myself to ignore the warmth from Cat's delicate palm as I opened the door slightly. Making sure that the coast was clear, I opened the door wider and rushed out with Cat down a couple of doors and quietly maneuvered our way into the bathroom.

"Good, we weren't spotted." Cat giggled a little at the way that I was acting. I guess it was pretty funny if it was her, but she doesn't know what would happen if she was caught. "Okay, you go wash up and I'll get us something to eat."

I didn't allow Cat to say something as I exited the bathroom and went back to my bedroom. I figured that I had to wear something eventually so I just threw on a black long sleeved shirt and some jeans. There wasn't enough time for both of us to shower so I sprayed my body with perfume, put on some deo, and used some weird dry shampoo for my hair. When Cat gets comfortable in a shower, she can last for a good hour. But I looked decent, so it was okay.

After quickly dressing, I made my way to the kitchen, hoping to avoid dear old Daddy. Of course, luck wouldn't be on my side.

"Dad," I nodded to acknowledge the fact that he was hovering in the opened fridge, where I actually needed to be.

"The hell do you want?" He looked at me with a bloodshot eye.

"I want some food."

He made some sort of noise that I figured was a laugh and continued to hog the area.

"Wait your turn."

He pretended that he was shuffling food around, as if he was making a very hard to decision about which almost expired food he wanted to eat.

"You're wasting money leaving that damn door open." I gestured to the door harshly and glared at him.

His bugged out eyes were on me again as his mouth turned into a frown. "Shut your mouth, Jadelyn! Learn to treat your elders with respect."

"If you're so old then freakin' die already." I wasn't up for his bull this morning and I never treat my father with respect. Who would respect a pile of shit? The aggravation was building up inside of me. He looked like he had a damn hangover that seemed like it was contagious.

The old man paused while staring at me. Slowly, he closed the refrigerator door and turned his body so that it was facing mine. His face held no expression. I silently gulped while staring him down. He was going to do something big. It would've been fine if he yelled at me right then and there, but the calm before the storm was never a good thing; it meant that the storm was going to be so wild that there would be a small chance of making it out alive.

"You're in a rush for food, Jade?" he asked, his ugly gray-blue eyes boring into mine. My father reached into the fridge and picked out a carton of milk, our only one, and then dropped it on the floor, having it explode open with white liquid flowing out. "Whoops. Now you're going to have to clean that up."

I didn't say a word as I picked up a dirty towel from the countertop and bent down to scrub the floor. I just glared at the floor, instead of glaring at my dad. I really didn't need a fight this morning. Cat was still taking a shower and the faster I finished up this mess, the faster I can go back to protecting her. Hopefully, if I seemed like I was backing down, he wouldn't do anything else. Hopefully.

"I heard something last night." His gruff voice was loud in my ears.

"What?" I blatantly asked while still cleaning up his mess.

"Another person. In your room."

I faltered in my hand movements for a split second. Cat was louder than I thought she was. If my dad knew that someone else was here…

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was just playing some screamo." I tried to play it off as a lie while finishing up the floor. I stood up and threw the cloth into the sink nearby and once again faced my father.

"I'm not stupid, Jade. That didn't sound like any music to me. You had a guest over."

And then it hit me. I didn't have many weaknesses, my dad knew that, but he also is very clever. Where do you think I got my keenness from? He can beat me down all he'd like and I wouldn't care, but if he knew that I was hiding someone, especially if I was lying to keep them safe, he would know that I cared about them. He could hurt them. And then it would hurt me.

I tried to keep a straight face as I shook my head, still staring in his eyes. He had to know that I wasn't hiding something. One of the easiest ways to catch a person lying was if they refused to look into your eyes.

"It was only music."

I then broke the trance and went over to the fridge which was no longer occupied. I opened it up and grabbed anything, not even caring to see what it was.

"What kind of music screams your name?"

I didn't look at him as I closed the door and started to walk away, back towards my room and the bathroom.

"Something my friend put together just for me. It was a gift."

My feet were almost out of the kitchen until a hand roughly grabbed my shoulder, nails grinded into my clothing and skin.

"I'm checking your room."

"Okay. You're not going to find anything, though."

On the outside, I was as calm as day. On the inside, my emotions were raging. We had to pass the bathroom to get into the bedroom. I'm pretty sure that Cat got the idea that she should stay where she was, but still, if Cat was herself, she might wander back. Also, if Cat was still taking a shower, running water would be heard. I didn't really care for God, but if He existed, I was praying with all my might that Cat was safe, that something would happen that would stop my dad from finding her.

We both walked to the corridor that held the two rooms. His nails were still digging into my skin and I was walking as if this wasn't out of the ordinary. There were six steps until we crossed the bathroom. My hearing was better than my father's, and my heart sunk when I heard the light flow of water coming from the room.

We crossed the bathroom and my dad stopped in place. I looked up at him to find his eyes looking at the bathroom door.

"Your mother is up pretty early. I thought that she was still in bed."

Air rushed out of my system. I didn't even know that I was holding my breath. Dad thought that my stepmom was in the bathroom.

"Keep moving," he ordered, shoving me forward.

The room was empty as I expected. I turned toward my dad, making him release me from his clutches, and looked at him, smirking.

"Are you satisfied? No one's in here. Maybe you're just going crazy."

I knew that I wasn't free from punishment for how I treated him earlier, but this was definitely a minor success for me.

"There was someone in here. And when I find out where they are, or who they are, they will be punished along with you."

"Well, you're not going to find anyone because nobody was here. If you're so out for punishing me over listening to music, then you're as whacked up as I always thought that you were."

I didn't see it coming but I felt it in a mere millisecond. My cheek stung with fire and I was pushed to the side onto the floor. My eyes looked up to find my father's hand outstretched from him and tight with muscles.

"You slapped me…" I murmured, a bit surprised. It's not like he never did that, but he hasn't in a long while. Ever since new mom came around, he's done it less and less and resorted to just making my life a living hell by using punishments and verbal abuse.

"Hell yeah I did. And if you ever disrespect me again, you'll be getting something worse than a slap to the face."

There was no time for a reply because he strode out of there, still pissed off.

He was gone. He was gone and Cat was safe.

I looked over to my right to find the scattered food that flew out of my hands after being slapped. After recollecting them, I quickly made my way back to the bathroom.

I silently closed the door while locking it and breathed out a small sigh.

"Hey, Jade."

I jumped at the noise because I was still on edge.

"Cat," I said, relieved, as I turned around to find such a person looking at me in with a towel covering her body and another covering her hair. "I, uh, got us some food."

Finally looking at what I picked out, I saw that my hands grabbed some bread, an apple, an orange, and some butter. Good enough.

"Here," I gave her the apple and she took it happily, gnawing on it as if it she was going to make it last.

Cat's eyes then gazed on my face and her eyebrows arched upwards.

"Jade," she stopped eating. "What happened to your face?"

It took me a second to remember the little brawl from my father, and I unconsciously reached up to touch the probably red spot on my cheek. My fingers flinched away at the pain but I hid it from Cat.

"It's nothing. Just got hit by something stupid."

Cat didn't just let it be, though. She stepped closer to me and as lightly as she could, her thumb stroked my cheek. She then leaned forwards and placed her lips on the fire, slightly soothing it.

My own head turned and our lips met. We kissed softly and in no rush to finish. One quiet tear made its way down my face, past the burning cheek, and landing ever so smoothly on Cat's hand that held my face. The girl wiped it away and kissed a little harder. She understood. This was my rare moment of letting out the sadness that I lock away, that I store in a bottle never to be opened. I needed someone, and this time, I actually have someone who would care for me.

I broke the kiss first. We needed to get out of here ASAP.

"Hurry up and get dressed. We're going to be late to school." I said that a little demanding, but one look at Cat and I saw that she understood what was needed to be done, and why I was ruining a good moment.

In no time at all, Cat had redressed herself and was all ready to go. We scarfed down the food and were ready to go. Once again, I carefully checked for the all clear, and we rushed our way out of the house and to my car.

"That was some adventure," I noted while getting into the driver's side. Cat nodded with a smile on her face.

"What are you so giddy about?" I was smiling too, probably because we were able to have our fun and get out safely and I was feeling just too good about it.

"I just…" Cat's eyes turned away from mine. "I just really love you."

That word again. I think I will never escape it. Cat's just too open with her feelings. Everyone knows how she thinks about them because it's no secret. But I know what she's expecting. She wants me to tell it to her back. And I know now for a fact that I do feel the same way. I wouldn't have gone through my dad's tortures if I did not.

I took in a breath, knowing exactly what I was going to say, and let out, "Cat, I love you."

Okay. That was awkward. I felt like I was kneeling down on one knee and practically asked her to marry me. It sounded much better in my head. I swear, it really did.

I knew my facial features had something weird on them but Cat only giggled.

"You'll get used to saying it, Jadey. I promise." Cat was too smiley, though. I think that to her, things changed drastically from last night. All of a sudden she was the teacher and I was the student.

"That nickname," I grumbled.

"Learn to love it, Jadey!" She laughed. "Just like you love me."

I smiled. I couldn't help it. She was really enjoying my confession. I don't think that anyone really cared for her in that way. Maybe that was why she was into it so much.

I was still smiling like an idiot when Cat reached into her bag and pulled out a pill.

"Another one?" I asked her. Things still weren't going well at school for her. I still evil eyed the kids that tormented me while I was in their presence, but it wasn't the same for Cat. I couldn't be there to protect her. I'm not even sure why this is such a problem. Hollywood Arts is a school where the absolute weirdest people go to learn. Perhaps it was the combination; innocent Cat and not innocent me. They really just have to get used to it.

"Things still aren't calming down…" Cat mentioned. "And I don't want to think about Delta."

My mind totally forgot about that problem. In addition to all the other troubles that seemed to be stacked on my shoulders, that one was the newest.

But I knew that there was no other way for her to make it through the day, so with a forced nod, I told her, " it."

In two seconds, Cat swallowed down the bright pink pill and breathed out calmly.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Cat. I couldn't stop you completely from taking those, I can only try."

She shrugged and commented, "You still give me hope and you care. That's enough to be thankful for."

We pulled up to the school parking lot and I turned off the engine, casually turning to the redhead.

"Well, I guess I'm thankful for you, too. So, I got ten minutes until you get all bubbly on me. What should I do in those ten minutes?"

Cat's smile turned suspicious and she unbuckled her seat belt, reached over to unbuckle mine, and placed her hands on my shoulders.

"I just want you all to myself for ten minutes."

I had no say, not that I wanted to interrupt, as she ravenously made out with me.


	12. Kissing the Princess

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. I actually had a very cunning remark regarding the fact that I do not own the show that made me enjoy Cat and Jade so much, but I forgot it. So, here is a smiley to replace the tears that I'm sure the people that want to take my story off of the web are surely shedding. :D**

**A/N: Life. Is. A. Giant. Butthole. Yeah that about sums it up. I know I skipped last week. I know this chapter is much shorter than the previous. I know that I haven't fixed the other chapters. My creative drive is sooooo down the drain that it is right next to your forgotten keys that you will probably be too lazy to ever get. I am still trying to hard to keep it up like, I have a plan for this, but it requires emotions that I seemed to have misplaced. I pray that I get them soon but since school is starting up and I'll probably be bored as hell in my WebDesign class, I'll probably be writing quicker and faster and may actually fix the last chapters because I do reread my story for amusement and it just annoys the crap out of me when I read "here" and I know I meant "hear". *confused smiley because fanfiction doesn't like less than or greater than signs*. Anyways, here is the next chapter and I'm going to finish this story no matter what. I also have a plan on a next story, actually, if anyone is interested. Maybe it will be with Jade and Cat if I'm still into that pair, maybe it'll be with someone else, but it is a good idea. So...here you go! Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope you all had happy holidays!**

Hand in hand, the two of us strode into the school. My heart was as light as ever after having been someone's complete attention for a whole ten minutes. Had Cat put lipstick on beforehand, my face would be covered with kisses.

"Jade." Cat caught my attention by hushing my name. It sounded so wonderful on her lips. "I'm kind of scared."

"Don't be. No one really should try anything with me around." I gave her hand a slight squeeze, allowing my expression to look sweet, before turning towards my school peers with a look of anger on my face. It was time to be cautious and wary. No way was I going to let anyone penetrate my walls just because Cat made a scratch in them.

"Kaykay!" Cat quickly smiled and her whole body pepped up like she had some sugar. Of course it was the pill. Thankfully it was the pill.

Even though it had been a full day, people were still staring, not as many as before but still staring nonetheless. I guess that others don't really like to let people live their lives the way they want to. Stupid pricks. They probably have no better place to put their attention than to use it to torture someone else. The only person that should be torturing anyone would be yours truly.

I made sure that Cat's attention was elsewhere as we made our ways to our lockers. For mine, I let her hold one of my newest pairs of scissors, her attention captured by the shininess of the metal. For her locker, I just asked silly questions that I really could care less about, but it helped keep her mind off of things.

"And what makes your giraffe so special?" I asked pretty bored-like. Cat never noticed before how I wasn't serious about the things I said and she still doesn't.

"Mr. Longneck is the most special and magical giraffe this world knows! He can keep secrets and tell stories and can cuddle amazingly and…"

Cat went on with her list of wonderful skills that a stuffed animal can give while my eyes were elsewhere. I knew that the girl, Delta I guess, was around. She had to be. She was here before and obviously was stalking us, so what would stop her from being here again? My guess was that Delta's goal was to make sure that Cat was safe, but that was my goal as well. The both of us can't keep the redhead safe from each other, so I'm going to have to make sure that Cat was behind my lines, not the other bitch's.

"Are you finished getting your stuff from your locker, Cat?" I asked, interrupting her rant about the many different shaped spots on the toy's body.

"Uhm…" Cat took one last look at her locker and quickly reached in to pull out something. "Kaykay."

"Alright. Let's get to class."

I took her hand and led her past the people to Sikowitz's room. We were pretty much the last ones there, considering how the bell rung thirty seconds before our entry.

"Cat and Jade. Late again, I see," Sikowitz commented with yet another coconut in his palm.

"Did you expect anything different?" I remarked while sitting down in an empty seat a bit close to the front. Cat sat in the one next to mine.

"No, Jade, I expected you to walk in with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other while you sing a Christmas song filled with plenty of joy and cheer with all of it just for me!"

I just stared at the crazy man.

"Okay, I get that it's close to that holiday, but if you've been drinking way too much nutmeg than you're supposed to, then someone other than me is going to take you to a rehab."

Sikowitz and I had a staring contest, him and me just looking into each others' eyes until one of us broke. It was Sikowitz, and if you doubted that then you don't belong here.

Sikowitz cracked up like a maniac while replying, "I missed you and your horrible humor, Jade."

"Likewise," I said with a fake smirk.

To my right, I heard Cat giggle slightly. She would find this amusing. I let my eyes wander over to her desk and found that she wasn't even paying attention to our conversation. Instead, she was looking down in her lap at something.

When Sikowitz started blabbing about some random topic, I quietly poked Cat's shoulder.

"Hey," I whispered. "Whatcha got there?"

Cat turned her head towards me and when she saw that I was looking her way, her eyes grew huge in excitement. She then looked down into her hands and moved out of the way for me to see a picture frame. It was so girly coated that I wanted to puke; rainbows everywhere and smiley faces filling wherever the rainbows didn't. But the picture that the frame held was of the two of us, as corny as that sounded. It was taken not too long ago with Cat's arms around me in a hug, one of her legs lifted behind her, and me scowling at whoever was taking the picture. I'm not sure why Cat would like this. I thought it made me look bad.

"Why do you have that?" I pointed to the picture as I questioned.

The girl looked at me enthusiastically and whispered back, "I love how you looked in this picture ever since we took it. Do you remember? It was like a year ago and we were at the fair together. You really wanted to go on the rollercoaster and we were walking there when a kid from school came around to take a picture for the school newspaper. I really really wanted to take one but you really didn't. In the end, I was able to get you in front of the camera. You weren't too happy but I thought of it as a great day. We went on all of the rides and I only threw up once!"

I actually did remember that day. I wasn't at all too happy about having my picture taken but I did spend the entire day with Cat. It wasn't until now that I noticed how often she held my hand and how close she always was. Maybe she had a crush on me earlier on in our friendship.

"Ahem," Sikowitz coughed, breaking me out of my thoughts. "We're still back in class, regardless of upcoming festivities. So, we're going to do another stage play right here. Hm…who should lead today's scene. How about Ms. Tori Vega!"

My jaw dropped. All heads turned around to the back of the room where Sikowitz was pointing and with no doubt at all, little miss perfect was sitting in a sit directly behind Robbie.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" I stood up in my seat and pointed to the girl. Vega was supposed to be out of my life, out of all of our hairs. How did she end up sitting right back in the same class where all of the torture started?

"My parents complained to the school district and had them test my blood. Turned out that there were traces of drugs in them which caused me to act how I did," Tori answered my question. I glared at her. "They let me back into the school immediately and since have been figuring out what drug it was and where it came from."

I saw something twitch at my side and glanced to see that Cat was holding the picture of us to her chest, her knuckles white from the force. She was scared. Probably about the fact that if they found out what drug it was, it might ruin her.

I was going to make a snaky remark but Sikowitz clamped his hands on my shoulders.

"Nice story, Tori. I never doubted for a second that you would willingly do all of those things that I heard that you did. So lets move on to the acting! Tori, pick your victim!"

Tori stood up at the stage and looked over the crowd of students, analyzing her prey. The dark brown eyes focused onto mine for a complete second, and I swear that I saw some fire in it.

"I choose…Cat."

My mind forced my face to be completely unreadable when Cat put the picture down on her seat and skipped up onto the stage next to Tori.

"Alright then. This exercise, you and Cat will be portraying a breakup scene. Tori, you will be playing Lisa and your boyfriend just broke up with you over the phone and Cat is sleeping over. Cat, you are the friend, uhh Margaret, that is supposed to help Lisa in her time of need. Ready? And…action!"

Sikowitz pointed his fingers towards the two girls to start off the scene. I tried to stay as comfy as possible in my stupid school chair while watching, but regardless, I couldn't stay still. Vega was up to something, I just knew it, and I couldn't do anything about it because she was the innocent girl right now and doing anything would make me look like the bad guy.

Vega sat on the floor, which was supposed to be the bed, and put her face in her hands, weeping invisible tears. She added sniffles and "boo hoo"s to try to make it seem real, but it all looked utterly phony in my eyes. Cat kneeled down besides her and placed a caring hand on Tori's shoulder. I doubted that Cat even knew that Tori had something up her sleeve, but Cat still acted through the pill to be the best actress that she could be.

"What's wrong?" Cat asked sincerely, looking worriedly at Vega.

Vega kept sobbing stupidly so Cat had to ask again, "Lisa, what's the matter?"

"It's…It's just that Joey broke up with me."

I yawned, trying to seem like I really didn't care. It was easy not to care; this was probably the worst scene to pick for anything. It was way too cliché. The events that Sikowitz picked out happened in everyday life for teenage girls. Unless Tori wanted to prove herself, she was probably going to pick out a major twist, and I was probably going to be right about that.

"But I thought you and Joey were really close? Didn't he give you his class ring?"

Vega looked at her left hand and eyed it as if there really was a ring on her finger. She then took off the supposed ring and threw it across the stage, putting her face back into her hands.

"Screw Joey!" Vega yelled, still crying into her palms. "All he wanted from me was a hot trophy girlfriend. After he got what he came for, he ditched me and moved on to some other girl!"

Cat looked at Tori with confusion.

"What did he get from you?" she asked innocently.

Tori looked at Cat with a tear streaked face. She then looked down toward her crotch and looked back up. Cat gasped with realization.

"He didn't."

"He did."

Cat was about to respond but I didn't hear her because at that second, Vega's eyes met mine. It was only a glimpse, nothing that anybody else would've seen, but I saw it.

"Oh, Margaret. I should've seen this coming. No one would ever want me for me."

"That's not true! You are beautiful and wise and anybody would be lucky enough to have you."

I heard Sikowitz cough beside me. "Make this more interesting, girls," he commented.

Vega smiled mischievously before going back into character and turned towards Cat.

"Anybody?" she asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes, of course, Lisa. You're too amazing." Cat had no idea what Tori was up to. But I saw it perfectly. I was about to stand up and stop the whole thing but Sikowitz put his hand on my shoulder again to keep me sitting down.

Vega sat up and faced Cat.

"Even you?"

I seethed through my teeth knowing exactly what was going to happen but before I was able to even shout out, Vega pressed her lips on the flustered Cat's.

I was frozen in my seat. Cat was frozen onstage. Tori was just smiling as she moved her head away from Cat's.

My heart was…harmed. A bunch of invisible arrows seemed to have pierced through my protected walls and penetrated my heart. I wanted to cry, but I wasn't going to. There wasn't any good reason to. Cat had no idea what Vega was up to. She couldn't have. Her mind wasn't even there because of the pink pill, so of course she didn't. I hope she didn't. I really wish that she didn't.

"Wha…" Cat blubbered. Her eyes darted across the room, looking for mine. When they finally landed into my own, her brown orbs grew in size and a small tear was starting to form at the edge of her eye.

"You're a good kisser, Margaret," Vega smirked. She then turned her head towards me and smiled. "I should've went to you first."

"You're fucking kidding me," I finally said. My mouth was dropped, my fists were clenched, and if it wasn't for Sikowitz and his goddamn hand on my shoulder I would have attacked Vega for all that it was worth.

I turned towards our supposed teacher and almost yelled at him, "You're just going to let her DO that?"

He looked at me with confusion as he responded, "What? It's acting. This is supposed to happen during plays."

"No way it is." I got out of my seat angrily and slapped Sikowitz's hand off. I didn't walk, I freaking stomped my way to the stage and angrily looked at Vega. One glimpse to Cat told me that she was still confused and wasn't sure how to respond to what's happening. It was okay though, I would do all the necessary work.

"Sikowitz wanted it more exciting, Jade, so I did only what he told us to do."

I looked around the room in frustration knowing that if I did argue it would lead to nowhere. Tori was still everyone's angel in this place and if I was mad at her, seeming like I wanted revenge, people might have put two and two together to realize that I was the one that spiked her drink with drugs.

"Haven't you heard the news, Vega? Cat and I are going out. She's off limits," I tried, at least for Cat's sake. I was still searching the room when I spotted something behind a group of kids that never say anything. Really, though, why are they in this class? But besides that, the thing that I noticed looked oddly familiar. I couldn't look away.

"This is acting, sweetie-"

"Don't call me sweetie," I snapped.

"Like I was saying…This is all acting. We're allowed to do this I mean, Beck and I kissed before when I first came to this school and that was acting." We all knew it wasn't acting.

"Yeah, Jade. Just calm your jets. It wasn't for real. I'm sure that Tori would never want to hurt you like that," André added.

I practically ignored his comment because the thing that I noticed was starting to make form. I then realized that it wasn't a thing, but a person.

"What're you even looking at?" Vega asked and it was then that I figured out who the person was.

"Delta…" I whispered. I heard Cat squeak behind me, figuring that she heard me say that person's name. Delta had found us. Again.

"Delta? Doesn't that mean heat in chemistry?" Stupid smartass.

"Shut up," I had started to turn towards the brunette bitch but before I turned completely, Delta's blue eyes came into my vision and struck into me. Chills ran through my spine.

I realized that there was no time to plan anything. Cat had mentioned that her gang finished outsiders quickly, and the fact that they know exactly where we are at any time would mean that they aren't waiting to do something.

I didn't say a word as I went over to Cat and pulled her up off of the floor, running with her out of the room without another word or look at Delta. We had to get of there, ASAP. There was no where to hide, only to run. I had my car, I could easily steal some money. Cat and I would leave this place so that we wouldn't be followed again. This would mean that Cat might have to give up her pills, but that would be a good thing, anyways. She'd have me, and I would have her. The main goal now is to avoid being caught by her gang…and I would do any means necessary.


	13. Runaways

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. I own a copy of the game Skyrim and love playing it, but I do not own Victorious, which I have no power in the world to buy, nor the money to even buy it x.x.**

**A/N: OK, I really really really just wanted to get out a chapter as soon as I could. It has been harder but now I have more to do and I just want to finish this story damn it! I don't believe that it's close to being done, though. There's much more that can be written. But, since I have missed these past two weeks, I'm hoping to make it up by writing a longer than normal chapter. Normally it's around 3500 to 4000 words, but this time its like 4600 words...like anyone cares. If anyone notices mistakes, I've been unable to fix them. I tried rereading it but I am oh, so tired. So...enjoy this! I'll try to write faster next time. (This took like 2.5 hours in itself).**

There was only one thing running through my mind: Get the hell out of here.

I didn't bother to cover up the noises that Cat and I were making; slamming of doors, stomping of feet, etc. It really didn't matter at this point because everyone important knew that we were fleeing. There wasn't another choice, actually. It was either run or fight, and I would think that Delta knew how to lock me up if I chose to fight her right then and there.

Cat didn't say a word as we sprinted through the school and into the parking lot. It was stupid of me to have parked so far in the back with me praying that every step that was taken, the gang was left behind. When we got to my car, I unlocked doors and let go of the girl's hand to run around to the driver's seat.

"Well?" I questioned Cat. I was already seated and she was just standing outside of the door warily, confused as ever. "Are you getting in?"

"Where are we going?" she asked timidly.

"Somewhere." I paused. "Anywhere…away from here." I decided to end the answer there. I honestly had no clue where to go but it was obvious that staying here was pretty much suicide.

I gave up trying to persuade the girl and turned on the car after buckling my seatbelt. My hands grasped the steering wheel angrily. I wasn't angry at Cat. Really, I couldn't even place myself in her shoes. I was angry at the world. Something good happened for once in my life and I didn't even have to chase it. It literally came to my house all wrapped up in leaves and twigs. But of course it had to come with a price. Every good thing in life comes with something bad.

I was still thinking to myself when I heard the passenger's door close and another seatbelt buckle. Guess Cat was coming along for the ride.

No other noise was made as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards my house. Of course I had a plan. I wouldn't just ditch school to run away without a plan. Only nimrods and idiots would do that. The entire course of the ride was silent, though. This lack of noise after an episode full of it was really giving me a migraine.

After about 10 minutes of thinking to myself, I glimpsed over at Cat to see how she was doing. Her head was bent forward with a sad expression. A closer look showed me that she was peering down at the picture that I saw during class. She must've swiped it up with her bag before I rushed us out of there. I could understand why she would choose that thought to think about. We were both so happy, so carefree, and right in that moment, nothing bad was happening. Oh, how I wished I could just jump into the picture and return to that time.

Unfortunately, I couldn't dwell on that memory. I had pulled up to my house intended on making a break in. My father already thought of me as a criminal. It was about time that I actually made his deranged thoughts a reality.

"Stay here," I muttered. If Cat heard me, she didn't acknowledge it.

I shook off the emotions and stepped out of my car. I had to think. My step mom didn't work at all. She's a lazy ass who has dad bring in the money for all the crap that she supposedly needs. My dad was surely fine with that, seeing as he loved the patriarchy idea. "Men are the ones that bring home the food and women are the ones that prepare it in the kitchen." Do you blame me for being a lesbian? But, seeing as how my step mom didn't care for my existence either, I believed that I could sneak in and out of the house without much trouble.

I checked my phone: 10:00 on the dot. I was praying that my dad didn't come home early. If anything, that was my top concern.

My feet took careful steps. Every time I placed my toe down, I made sure to do it as carefully as I could. I really didn't know my step mom's abilities when it came to sensing a break-in. For all I knew, she would be sleeping on the couch with the television on. But when I finally made it to the door, I creaked it open a bit to find her awake in the kitchen, making a damn sandwich. I shook my head to myself. This would happen in my family.

"HAHAHA what a joke! Oprah? Diet? HA!" my step mom laughed at the T.V. with a horrible snort to it. Not like she shouldn't use a diet either.

I quickly squeezed through the tiny area that I made for myself and closed the door while my step mom continued go laugh at whatever the hell she was watching. Probably some show that made fun of celebrities. There's numerous of those on nowadays.

I've come to realize that I can't even walk through my house anymore. I had to sneak and hide and hope that I wasn't found. It really was as if I didn't live here at all. Maybe I never really belonged.

Crawling to my parents' bedroom, I continued listening in on the crazy bitch. If I was just watching from outside, I would find this hilarious. Lucky for me, I was inside, threatened to be caught, and if the lady was quiet for more than a second, I knew that I was caught.

It was a pretty good thing that their bedroom wasn't very far from mine nor the kitchen. I made it there in only a few minutes and snuck in without a problem.

"Ok…ok…what to steal."

My plan was money and credit cards. I was going to drive to the bank and take all that it was worth, leaving the cards empty as well as my parents' bank accounts. Maybe I wouldn't take everything. They normally just go by what they were able to get throughout the week and cash it in about twice a year. Eventually they would find out that they were robbed, but I would hope that they wouldn't put together my run away and the robbery. I thought that it was a logical plan, considering how I was going to get out of state ASAP.

To start the plan off, I went over to my dad's bed and stuck my hand in his pillowcase. Years of watching him stuff money in there while he wasn't looking has finally paid off. I pulled out my hand with a bunch of hundreds in my fist. I would leave some, of course, to make it seem like I didn't take anything. There were a lot of hundreds, though. Dad was planning to go to the bank this month. I also checked in his drawers and literally, in his drawers, his freaking underwear, was where he hid his credit cards. Once I'm done with those things, they were going into the incinerator and my hands would be washed a million times with acid.

That raid was done. The next thing I had to do was go into my bedroom. I'm not an idiot. If I was caught by my step mom, I would make it seem like I came home to get something for school. Do you know how easy it is for people to believe that lie? Very.

After slipping in and out of my bedroom, I came out with a box filled with stuff that's close to me. I don't really remember what was in that box, but I figured that if I was never coming back to this place, I might as well bring it with me.

"Alright, that's it," I said to myself. Why? Hell, I don't know. I felt like I was going nuts and insane so I guess doing something that I could control would make me feel better. Stupid me should've kept quiet.

"Huh?" my step mom staggered. I saw it too. She was just about to sit in the chair with a sandwich on plate when she heard me speak. The woman turned around and I found both of our eyes locked together.

Her washed out brown eyes looked angrily into mine as her slow brain put together the facts. I was here when I should be in school. I was sneaking around when I shouldn't be. I was in trouble. She had full command.

"What are YOU doing here?" she asked me, spit flying out of her mouth. I found it hard to believe that two utterly putrid beings were able to find each other and end up married. I found it even worse that I was stuck with them.

"I came back here to pick up some stuff for school." I showed her the box, my hand unconsciously covering the pocket filled with the money and credit cards.

"You're not supposed to be here. I got no call from your school."

I looked away in a bored-like manner, making it seem that I didn't care about this conversation. If I had actually paid attention, I would have notice that the woman picked up a phone.

"You don't need a call from school if I signed myself out."

"Says who?" I still wasn't looking as she dialed numbers on the device.

"Says my school?" I finally looked back to find that she did have a phone in her hand. "What's that for?"

"Oh, this? I was going to chuck it at your head if you didn't cooperate. Tell me why you're actually home."

I scowled at her and she did the same.

"I fucking told you. I came here to get some stuff."

"You're father and I had a talk, Jade. You've been acting pretty strange lately. We knew you were up to no good."

My head angrily shook with all this stupidity coming out of her mouth.

"Do you NOT SEE this box in my hand? This was all I had to get from home."

"Then WHY didn't I SEE you come in the door? You had to have snuck in!"

"YOU WERE DAMN BUSY WATCHING TELEVISION AND MAKING A FUCKING SANDWICH!"

After my yell, everything paused.

"This sandwich?" My mother looked at me and smiled. I knew something was wrong. That woman only smiled when she had a pretty damn good plan up her sleeve. "Oh, it's for your father."

"My fath-"

As if on cue, I heard a car door slam outside followed by yet another yell.

"The hell is going on here?"

My feet were moving before my brain registered anything. I didn't make it to the door, though. Mrs. Ugly stopped me with her body, holding me back.

"You're not going anywhere," she hissed.

"And who the fucking hell are you!" I heard the man scream outside. He found Cat. Daddy found Cat.

I heard a squeak and some shuffling happen outside. A car door opening and slamming. Feet pounding on cement. I kept trying to fight out of the grip of my step mom but surprisingly, she was able to keep push me away.

"I said, WHO ARE YOU?"

"JADE!" Cat screamed for me. Her calling my name sent jolts through my body. I shoved against my step mom, pushing her to the wall, and tripped. I tried to stand up but out of nowhere, a heavy weight landed on me and I was stuck on the ground.

"JADE HELP!" I heard Cat scream again.

"Cat!" I yelled but not as loudly as I hoped. Step mom's fat ass shortened my breath.

"Your voice is familiar, little girl. But you're trespassing on my territory. You know that? You could be sent to jail," I heard my father say.

Another shuffling of doors and feet and some slamming into metal.

"JADE!"

"Wait a second. I know where I heard that before. You were the voice from last night. So you were the person that Jadelyn was keeping over. Oh, you shouldn't have. You really shouldn't have."

"No-!"

The sound stopped short with a thud.

That made me snap.

"Get. The hell. OFF OF ME!" I used all the energy I had to force the weight off of my body, causing the woman to fly across the floor and hit the very couch that she was going to put her lazy ass on.

I got to my feet in a second's moment, picked up the box, and sprinted to the door. I almost broke it off of the hinge when I opened the door to find a crumpled Cat in the grass with my terrifyingly angered father standing over her.

"Leave her alone!" I shouted, about ready to release my fists anywhere they needed to go.

I was expecting another fight but was instead greeted with calmness. It seemed like my entrance sucked away all the anger that my dad had. Remember earlier when I said that it would be better if he released it all at once instead of calmly doing things? Being calm meant that he had a plan, too.

"Welcome to the party, Jadelyn."

His head turned toward me, but his body was still facing Cat.

"I-" I staggered. "I said leave her alone."

My father was shaking his head slowly, making tsk sounds.

"You should know the consequences for trespassing, Jade. A man owns a property; a man can do anything he wants on it."

I heard a click and gasped.

"Don't be stupid, father," I attempted.

"Stupid? This girl here broke so many laws. She snuck into my house, had SEX with my daughter, and now she's back again for something else? It's a damn crime to be gay as well. Time for her to get her punishment. I said I'd punish you both, didn't I?"

The gun was finally seen. A nice little silver pistol that had enough power to murder in one shot. It was pointed at me.

"Killing a person would send you to jail, too."

He shook his head again and turned his body around towards me so that I was his complete attention.

"Not if I have a right to do so."

He cocked the gun and extended it towards me.

I didn't know what to do. Duck? Dodge? Throw myself at him hoping that I would punch him before he pulled the trigger? I knew that the old man was crazy enough to do something like this, that he wouldn't bluff. So, I ended up just standing in my spot, my eyes closed, too stunned to do anything, knowing that this was the end. I had a flash of thoughts in my mind. Pictures, images, memories, sounds, smells, all of that good stuff. The smell of fresh baked cookies that Cat had brought in one day for our group of friends. The sounds of laughter and giggles that were so lovely that it made me smile. My first kiss from Beck, just to be replaced by my first kiss from Cat. The time that we were at the amusement park and Cat wanted to take a picture but I didn't, just to end up doing it anyways so that it was a captured moment kept in a girly frame for Cat to forever enjoy. All of those moments and thoughts ran across my mind, and I knew that the one place that I was truly happy was with Cat, no matter where it was. So if I were to die today, at least I would've died by someone that I actually loved.

The bullet was released, along with the horrible sound of a barrier breaking.

But it was off course.

It didn't go at me. Instead, it went to my side, in the direction of the house.

I heard screams.

I heard movement as someone was trying to wrestle with someone else.

I finally opened my eyes.

What I found didn't make sense.

My dad was being wrestled to the ground by a redhead, my redhead. The gun was feet away from them, right at the wheel of my car. My dad was trying to force his way out of Cat's grips towards me, but not towards me. His arms were reaching at the house, his eyes filled with fear and panic. I turned to see what he was reaching for and discovered blood everywhere by the front door, a woman's body on the floor. She was the source of the flood. My step mom's body which was covered with crumbs from bread was now covered with red sticky liquid.

I whipped my head back towards the scuffle before me and was finally able to get my gears working again. My dad had crawled his way out from under Cat's small body. He must've been too shocked to gain strength beforehand.

He ran to my step mom. I ran to Cat.

She was crying. Tears of sorrow and fear were escaping like waterfalls down her red cheeks.

I didn't know what to say. I was still stunned. I had no emotion. I just grabbed Cat's arm to help her up and led her to my car. I quickly buckled her seatbelt before closing the door and hurried to the other side. I was about to do the same thing for me, but I noticed the silver object by the tire that was going to end my life. I decided that it had better purpose, so I picked it up and took it with me.

I considered shooting my father. We were going to be on the news tonight without a doubt. He would make up some sort of lie about how I murdered my step mom or how Cat was the redheaded demon and shot everything and everyone.

I thought otherwise.

Someone needed to stay alive. I wasn't sure why at that moment but I knew that it was the right thing, regardless of my conscience. It was the right thing if I was to be successful in the future.

I reached over to Cat's bag and pulled out a container. I saw her do this multiple times so I wasn't clueless on what to do. I opened the container and took out what was in it, not looking at what I had picked. I then rushed out the door to my father. He was crying by my step mother's head, trying to contact the paramedics. When he finally got a connection to them, he wasn't able to say a thing. I kicked him in the back of the head and knocked him out. Afterwards, I reached down to pour a couple of multicolored pills into his mouth for him to swallow. Hopefully that would put him in a coma or something.

Finally. Finally, finally, finally. We escaped out of there. I had a pocket full of money and a belt with a gun. Not to mention a couple of new scars on the heart. Cat and I were alive, though. She was alive. And that's all that mattered.

* * *

><p>We were on the road heading nowhere in particular again. It had been quiet the entire hour and a half that I had been driving. Ever since I sped away from the house of horrors, we both had been too afraid to say anything.<p>

It was so quiet that I thought that Cat had accidentally gotten shot while I wasn't looking.

"Please say something," I pleaded. I wanted to hear her voice; it was the only thing that kept that bad memories at bay.

She was still silent. I didn't dare look at her. If I saw her miserable again, I would turn infinitely sad. The both of us couldn't be sad. One of us had to stay strong.

"I got us money, Cat. We're set to live where we want. I'll get a job and we can try for GEDs and go to college. We're almost 18. We can change our names then, get new papers and be new people."

There was no sound on the other side of the car. I risked a look to find the girl sleeping, her head laying on the window, her expression at peace. I was grateful, as well as envious. I wish I could be in the world that she's escaped to.

* * *

><p>I pulled up to some motel whose name I really could care less about. It looked legitimate, and looked like someone wouldn't normally come in to shoot people up. Only on rare days.<p>

I had a gun now so, instead of some scissors, I could actually threaten a stranger and they'd believe me. I've been told that my looks could kill. That could be taken on a sexual and serious note.

Cat was still sleeping. I would've guessed that what happened would knock her out. I was getting tired myself. My body was rushing on adrenaline, although my brain was shut off from emotions.

I once again stepped out of my car leaving Cat behind, hoping that this time things wouldn't be hectic. For once, I wondered how I looked. Cat really was out of it. Her clothing was covered with grass and dirt, probably covered with sweat as well. It was ripped in places. Definitely from a fight. As being in one myself, I must've been misshapen. Oh well.

A bell rung with a cheery tune when the door opened into the main office. Some bored guy reading what I presume was a porn magazine was stationed at the front desk.

"Yes?" he asked, not even bothering to look up from some chick's boobs.

"I want a room," I demanded.

My voice must've broken him from his trance because he looked up sharply. I guess he didn't like what he saw because his eyes grew in fright and he looked back down, obviously no longer reading his magazine.

"F-for how long?"

I pondered that for a good, long second. We probably would stake out here until things were better, until we knew what was up. Then, I guess we'd go from there.

"Tonight for now. If I decide to stay longer, I'll pay you later for the extra days."

"Uhm."

He had no time to debate anything because I took out a hundred from my pocket and placed it on the desk.

"This should cover it," I stated.

"This would be more than enough…" the guy muttered while taking out a key and handing it to me. He then spoke up to ask, "Do you want your change back?"

"Naw," I replied, swiping the key from his hands and making my way out. "If this covers more days then that's good." It would mean that we won't be bothered.

When I got back to the car, Cat was in a frenzy. She was looking around, petrified, but when her eyes finally settled on me, she calmed down.

"You're okay," she breathed.

"Of course I would be."

I got back into the car and drove around until I found our room.

"I thought…I was scared…" Cat was trying to say.

I understood, though. She's still trying to get over what previously happened. Since I kind of disappeared again, Cat's mind went to horrifying places.

"It's alright," I hushed her. "Everything is going to be okay."

She just shook her head and looked the other way. I doubt that I could've even guessed what was running around in her head. In my own, I was trying to figure out what to do now. I guessed that recovering really was the best thing to do now. I just…I just couldn't believe what had happened. We did it. We actually did it. We ran away, my horrible step mother was killed, and now we're on the run. If I was going to get a nightmare tonight, I had a good guess about what would happen in it.

I didn't help the poor girl out this time. I just wont to the room, unlocked it, and took our bags inside. Cat had actually brought her clothes from the previous day, so at least she had something to change into. As for myself…oh well. Just plain under wardrobe for me. It was only Cat anyways.

The door opened with a loud creak to acknowledge that Cat had finally followed me into the room.

"Do you want to shower first?" I asked.

I heard her reply a quiet yes before she went into the bathroom and closed the door. The shower started running, beats of tiny water droplets hitting the shower walls. It was a lovely tune; could drown out any other thought available.

My brain figured that now was a good time to check things.

I took out my PearPhone and checked the Slap. What better place to find out gossip?

**Tori Vega: ****Guess who ran out today w/ innocent Cat. Jade of course! Doesn't she have better things to do than to steal the vulnerable?**

I scowled at that post. Of course Vega's would be the top one, talking about how I supposedly damaged Cat's reputation again. I looked at the comments, which weirdly brought up my mood.

_**Beck: Come on, Tori. You kind of kissed her girlfriend out of blue. How would you react if something like that happened to you?**_

_**Tori: But it was super dramatic. Can't she calm down?**_

_**Beck: Just back off, Tori.**_

_**Sinjin: Yeah. It wasn't Jade's fault anyways. There's nothing wrong w/ her.**_

How was it that I was a bunch of miles away, going to girls after being with Beck, and Sinjin is still after me? Some people I will never understand.

I was about to read the status below it regarding Rex, who always has the latest news, when I heard something in the bathroom. It wasn't the running water that I was getting used to. It was…crying. Cat was crying simple sobs that were attempted to be hidden with the water.

I put my phone down, figuring that Cat was worth more than a stupid status update.

I didn't allow myself to enter just yet. I wasn't going to just go in there and as if she was alright. I stripped off my clothes, tossed them to the side, and then I quietly entered the bathroom. She didn't even know I was coming. My body slipped into the shower with ease. I saw her crying then. Her head was bent like in the car and tears were freely running down her cheeks. Her cheeks and nose were the same pink color.

My hands wrapped around her naked body from behind and she gave a slight gasp, but she rested against my body. It was tan on top of pale, but it seemed to match perfectly. Her red hair collided with my black and blue hair to create a mess of color as I rested my chin on her shoulder and kissed her neck softly. It was then that I noticed the dark bruises on her sides and legs. They were a horrible mixture of black and blue and a little bit of red in between. No pill would ever save this girl from the memories.

"I love you, Caterina," I murmured into her skin while feeling her body gain goosebumps. I really just wanted her to know that. If anything in this loveless world, I wanted her to know that there was a little bit of love in it.

"I love you, too," she let out, another streak of salty water fell and landed on my arm.

"I promise that I will protect you."


	14. Gossip

**Disclaimer: I do not own this show. Victorious is a show that's on television and would have my name in the credits if I did. If my name is there, then people would know that I own it. But I don't. So sadly, I am not famous. **

**A/N: I started this chapter really strong...and then I don't know what happened. I wanted to get this out today because I really didn't want to continue my habit of updating later and later. I think this is just a filler chapter, then. Helps get some knowledge of what else is going on besides what's happening between Jade and Cat. Like I said before, I write what I'm feeling. So...blame that if you wanted to blame something. I'm really happy about these reviews though. I don't want to discourage people from reviewing, but I don't want to seem annoying about it. If I'm doing a good job at whatever I'm doing, then yay. So, I will continue writing as fast as I can, and I hope you readers enjoy this chapter. If not, then I will work my hardest for the next one to be better. Thank you (:**

As the water dripped down my cut and broken body, my mind completely ignored the little shots of pain that spurted through my system. The waves of agony that shuddered through me did not matter. Injuries heal. It all takes time.

Now, the type of injury is crucial when it comes to how long it would heal. Normal outside scrapes and black and blue's would fade away without any time at all. Inside, emotional and mental wise, it may take much longer. My emotional sense was already ruined beyond healing. Only a certain person was ever able to make me feel good things again. That person, unfortunately, was now going through the phase that I had endured a while ago. Well, she also went through a similar one early on, but this time it was rougher because things were so complicated.

I wasn't so sure that Cat could fully heal.

My fingers ran along Cat's wet, injured skin. Every time I passed over a nasty looking bruise or some form of opening with blood leaking out, Cat would flinch slightly or squeak a little, yet she did not tell me to stop. I figured that she needed somebody that she could trust completely, and the only way to really know that that person existed was to be with them, to know that they were there, to feel their breath hitting a portion of their body, to have that connection of skin touching skin, to know that they weren't alone. Even if it cost a little bit a pain when my fingers slid upon opened wounds, it was better than the alternative.

Surprisingly, even though I just lost my family, my home and my old life, I wasn't the one that needed to be comforted. I felt strong. I felt powerful. I felt like I could accomplish anything. And I realized as I was holding my beloved Cat in my arms without another care in the world, that it was because of this girl that I felt that way. She was the one that needed to be cared for, and since I was able to have control of that, I believed that I was tough. I've always been, haven't I?

Cat was as unresponsive as ever, though. Without a doubt, she was in an entirely different world. I didn't want her to stay there. I couldn't lose her to that world.

I twisted the girl around as gently as I could. I don't even think she realized that I forced her to face me until our eyes met each others'. Her chocolate brown eyes were so large that they seemed forever scared. Her lips were quivering to go along with her body shaking lightly. But regardless of the fear, we held eye contact. She knew I was here. She didn't want me to leave.

"Stay with me, Cat," I pleaded, allowing myself to show the secret vulnerability that I knew existed in everyone somehow. It surprised me how quickly I was able to go from strong to weak, just by seeing how broken Cat was.

I then brought my head closer to hers to kiss those quivering lips. They were barely warm and incredibly weak, kissing back with one-tenth of their normal strength. I didn't give up so easily. One of my hands went to the back of her head, keeping it close to me, while the other brought her arm around my shoulders. They switched around so that both arms interlocked behind my neck. I could feel the fight in her. She was trying to break free of the pain and suffering that was going on in her mind.

That thought of hope enraged the zeal in me and I kissed her harder, begging her, needing her to return to me, to remember her feelings for me and kiss me so roughly that I couldn't remember anything except for her.

"Cat," I moaned through my attempts. "Cat, please come back to me."

Our lips collided again and I thought I felt some power through her lips.

"Please. You need to stay with me. I can't lose you, not after I've lost everything else."

I was sure this time that she was returning back with strength in her arms as they hugged me.

"It's you and me. We don't need anything or anybody else. So long as I have you, I'll be as strong as ever."

It was a promise that I would die to keep. Cat really was the only thing I needed. She was my hope, and it seemed like this time hope would stay instead of die out, so long as Cat didn't die.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm just—"

"Scared," I added. "I know."

"No. I'm not scared. I'm lost. I'm not sure where to go."

At this point we had stopped kissing. Our hands didn't release each other, but we were now staring into the other's eyes. The chocolate coloring mesmerized me once more. It was such a lovely color.

"I don't know where to go, either. But I don't really care anyways. I only have one goal now, and that's to protect you. So, wherever that is leading, that's where I'll go."

Cat looked down in thought. She was either always thinking, or never thinking. I really didn't know where the pink pill took her.

"I just want to be with you. You make me feel safe," she murmured, loud enough for me to hear, but maybe she was talking to herself.

"You've seen me with my scissors. You know I can keep you safe."

"I can keep you safe, too."

I looked at her then, inquiringly.

She continued, "I know all about my gang. They're really the main enemies, right? So, I know every thought that they could possibly have. I'll keep them away from you, I promise."

I said nothing while soaking it in. I thought that this might've turned into one of those teenage drama books where one of the lovers always had to keep saving their vulnerable partner. It really was a lame idea; most people can handle their own mess, otherwise they'd be dead by now. The fact that Cat was actually trying to keep me safe as well…well, that made my heart warm. She was vulnerable. Just look at her. She could barely put up a fight, though her scuffle with my father was pretty impressive. But wouldn't the main point of this was me saving her ass? I mean, that's what happened at the beginning of this story. I probably wouldn't doubt that that's how this tale ends; her saving me. I probably had one of the best relationships in the entire world. Even through all of this, I was the lucky one.

After thinking all of that, and standing without a sound doing it, I figured that there really were no words that could explain everything that went on in my head. So, all that I did, as corny as it sounds, was hug her. I was also tearing up. Not crying, hell no, not crying. Just…a little moisture fell from my eyes. I was tough enough to admit that.

Cat didn't notice, anyways.

A loud noise broke out moment. My emotions were angering up, but then I realized that it was the tone to my phone.

"Someone texted me?" I asked no one in particular.

Cat released me from her grip and I stepped out of the shower, not really bothering with clothes again. It was only Cat for crying out loud, plus, I was in a hurry to see who texted me. It made me anxious. Maybe it was my father texting me threats or maybe the police or maybe anything. Maybe someone was stalking us again and keeping tabs on us by using instant messaging. Sounds like a television show. Is that what's happening?

Regardless of all of that, I reached the phone in no time at all and saw that it was actually a status update from Rex. Of all the things that I could've received, it had to be an update status. I remembered then that that was what I was actually checking before I heard Cat crying. Rex was always the one with information about the biggest news, so of course it would be logical to check his Slap page.

I quickly opened the message and saw in a nice font what Rex had to say.

**Rex: ****Jade and Cat are on the run! My people told me that Jade's stepmom was SHOT and her dad's out in a COMA. I wonder who did the dirty deeds. #IthinkitwasJade**

I read it out loud to Cat who was drying herself off, her cheeks a blush of pink.

"Are there any comments?" she asked.

I scrolled down to see that there actually were quite a few, so I read them out loud.

_**Tori: Not surprised.**_

_**Beck: I don't believe that Jade would actually kill someone. Knock them out, sure, but never a killer.**_

It kind of gave me some happiness that even after everything I've put Beck through, he still believed that I wasn't entirely evil.

"That's nice of him to say," Cat added to my thoughts.

"Yeah…," I replied thoughtfully. "That was."

"Do you still feel for him in that way?" Cat questioned quietly. The very idea shocked me into looking at her. Was Cat really insecure that I'd be disloyal?

"No way! Why would you even think that?"

"I…" Cat couldn't reach my eyes. She turned around, hugging the drenched towel to her body. "I was just wondering."

I went over to her, my phone still in hand, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Be sure about it, Cat. I'm all yours."

Cat just shook her head. She didn't even bother to look at me. I guess she was just nervous about the situation.

"Uhm…let's check out the other comments," I tried.

Underneath Beck's comment were a lot more that really helped me get a sense of things.

_**André: I don't see why Jade would ever do that. She can be mean but…she's not THAT mean. **_

_**Tori: Well, we've all seen for ourselves that she ditched with Cat. Poor girl. **_

_**Beck: Once again, Tori, I don't blame her for doing that. I don't think that anyone does.**_

_**André: I don't. The two looked good together. They're a cute couple, really.**_

_**Robbie: I don't either. But I saw for myself that both West's are at the hospital. Mrs. West looks really bad. **_

_**Rex: You can't handle blood, Robbie. What were you even doing there?**_

_**Robbie: Uhm…I just needed to see things with a doctor…**_

_**Rex: You got another rash again, didn't you?**_

_**Tori: Ew, Rex. TMI.**_

_**Beck: Yeah, Rex. We all didn't need to know that. **_

_**Rex: A-N-YWAYS. Back to the topic at hand. Things are goin' down with Jade and Cat. **_

_**André: Yeah, they've been doing everything together. Now they've run away after some messed up stuff happened to Jade's parents? Who knows what's really going on?**_

_**Tori: I for sure don't. They might as well be stuck together since that's all anyone can talk about anymore. "Cat and Jade" "Jade and Cat". Why not just call them Cade or maybe Jat for crying out loud? It's so much easier than repeating the names and the "and".**_

I looked up from reading to consider that. Cade. It sounded so…cute. I cringed. Cuteness. Augh. Cat is turning me cute…but I guess it's worth it. A look at Cat (which she was looking at me because I stopped reading) told me that it definitely was worth it. Those worried yet curious eyes of hers just made me melt.

"Do you like that name? Cade?" I asked her.

She smiled at me and replied, "Yeah! I love it actually. Cade is just so adorable. It's like a mix of our names to create the perfect pet name!"

I seethed at the fact that she thought it was a pet name, but ignored the feelings.

"One of us can't be called that, though. It's either both or neither."

She thought for a second, one finger on her chin, her eyes searching the air.

"Then both of us it shall be!" she exclaimed with a giant smile.

"I'll only endure it for you, sweetie," I muttered under my breath.

"At least you're enduring it," she replied in a sing-song voice.

I face palmed, but chuckled, and continued reading.

_**André: I think that you're just being a little bit jealous, Tor. They've been the center of attention for a while. Does anyone know where they are?**_

_**Beck: Nope.**_

_**Robbie: Nuh-uh. **_

_**Sinjin: I've heard some rumors.**_

"Where the hell does Sinjin come from!" I exclaimed when I read his comment.

"Uhm…" Cat whimpered at my sudden outburst.

"Sorry, Cat. It's just…he's everywhere! I don't think I'll ever be able to shake him."

Cat sat down next to me where I noticed that she was fully clothed in the wardrobe that she wore the night she slept over my house. And…I was still naked. Screw it.

"Let's just keep reading," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I wont lie, it send some goose bumps down my arms, but I did as told.

_**André: What rumors, man? You can't just say that and leave it hanging. **_

_**Beck: Yeah, Sinjin. What do you know?**_

_**Sinjin: Well, I was walking down the street near Jade's house because I saw her and Cat run out of the building at school. And then I saw Jade's car speeding the opposite direction, out of town. **_

_**André: How the heck is that a rumor? She could've been going anywhere. Do you know where she was actually going? Or maybe, I don't know, where she is now?**_

_**Sinjin: I think she's in Ohio.**_

_**Beck: …**_

_**André: …**_

_**Robbie: Ohio!**_

"Really? Ohio?"

Cat giggled beside me. There was actually a television set in this room, but I think that we'd both agree that this was better entertainment.

"That's like…a bajillion miles away!" Cat said in between giggles.

"That stupid nerd…" I shook my head while laughing.

_**Beck: Just forget about Sinjin. He's no help.**_

_**Sinjin: Hey!**_

_**André: You know it's true, man. **_

_**Robbie: Does anyone else think that they're reading this right now?**_

_**André: I kind of do.**_

_**Tori: I think they're doing each other. **_

_**Beck: Really, Tori, please keep your comments to yourself. I'm sick of all of this crap that you're giving everybody. I thought you were a different person. **_

_**Tori: All this commotion about those two are giving my a headache. I wish people would drop it!**_

_**Beck: This is important stuff. Cat and Jade are your friends, remember?**_

_**Tori: I thought we were calling them Cade. **_

_**Beck: Tori, stop talking or else I'm breaking up with you. **_

_**Tori: What? **_

_**Beck: Do it. You're not helping, either. **_

_**Tori: Whatever…**_

_**André: Damn, Beck. **_

_**Beck: It had to be done. So, we got any leads?**_

_**Robbie: Not that I know of. I just remember Jade saying "Delta" during class and then freaking out. **_

_**Beck: Who's Delta?**_

_**Robbie: Beats me. **_

_**André: Whoever that is, Jade must be scared of her.**_

_**Robbie: Jade? Scared? You're kidding, right? Jade's not scared of anything. **_

_**Beck: You'd be surprised. She may not fear for herself, but if it's about someone important…**_

_**André: Cat.**_

_**Beck: Bingo. **_

_**Rex: Why is all of this on my status? Can't you find a chat room?**_

_**Robbie: Really Rex? Are you that selfish? **_

_**Rex: Selfish? I just hate getting a million notifications for something that I don't care about. Now, if they were notifications from Ridgeway girls…**_

_**Robbie: Stop it, Rex. **_

_**Beck: Okay, Rex. We'll stop talking on here. **_

_**Robbie: Huh?**_

_**Beck: Let's just do what he says. We'll meet up somewhere and figure this out. **_

_**Rex: So long as you quit talking on here!**_

"And that's where it ends," I finished. "I think that they were starting to figure out something."

"Me too…" Cat unconsciously put her head on my shoulder. We had been sitting on the bed together while finishing the gossip.

"They won't find us, though. We don't even know what we're going to do."

"The gang might find us…"

I didn't notice until then that Cat's arms were wrapped around one of mine, and she shied into me.

"What are you scared of?" I asked her, curiously. I know what I'm scared of, but there must've been one thing out of the thousands of fears that she had that stood out.

"I'm only afraid of losing you."

I really should've expected that one. When it came to being hopeless romantic, Cat was definitely in her prime.

"How romantic," I said, teasingly.

"It's true. The picture that I have is only a picture. You are an actual person that makes the memories alive and happy."

When she said the word "memories", a light bulb went off in my head. I couldn't believe that I forgot about it, but I stood up and went over to the place where we threw our stuff down to retrieve the box that I was able to take from my room.

"What's that?" Cat asked, her expression lightening at the surprise that I had.

"It's my box of random shit," I replied sarcastically.

Cat was confused and I gave up on humor to say, "It's actually a box filled with the things I…care about."

It was tough saying that word. Care. Just like with the word love. It's a sensitive word and I don't…care. I rarely care about anything.

"Am I in there?" Cat questioned. I looked at her strangely and she giggled. "Don't you care about me?"

"Well, of course I do. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Cat grinned at me. Perhaps she was getting to close, to attached. But what else could she be attached to?

"So, what's inside?"

"Let's open and find out."

And…that's exactly what we did.

The first thing that was pulled out was something that at the time I showed Cat my box, I regretted putting it in.

"You do have a picture of me in here!" Cat exclaimed.

It wasn't just any picture. It was the picture of the first time that I met her. She was much younger than she is now. Her hair was actually brown, that's how long ago it was. I thought that I had finally made my first real friend, that's why I kept the picture. It meant something to me, considering how beforehand, I never had a friend. But how we met was really strange and it took me a while to realize that she was being friendly. I didn't know that friendliness was being pretty crazy to her.

"Yeah, uhm…you looked good there," I tried.

"Somebody liked meeeeeee."

"Shut up, Cat," I laughed.

We displayed the other various items that I had collected over the years. A couple of scissors, some random artifacts that only meant something to me, a plastic bag filled with a fatty lump…

"What is this?" Cat freaked.

"Calm down. I got it from the doctor when Rex supposedly died. Remember?"

I'm not sure why I really was amused at that fatty lump. Then again, Trina's mouth blood on Tori was pretty interesting, too. Oh…how the human body worked.

"I wasn't there…"

It took me a second to remember what did happen.

"You were put into the psych ward," I stated.

Cat nodded her head a bit gravely.

"They knew where to put me…"

"Don't say that, Cat. It was funny, really. They didn't know what to expect."

"Funny? Would you find it funny if you were placed into a room where people thought you would freak out at any second?"

Actually, I would find it fairly humorous because I would freak out on command, not at random.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure, Jade…" She got up and started walking back to the bathroom.

"Cat!" I yelled after her, but it was no use. She shut the door, leaving me, naked and wet, to think to myself.


	15. Memories

**Disclaimer: I don't not, shall not, can not, wish but wont own this show. It is enough for now that I am able to manipulate the characters into a story, but one day, I will be able to call the shots...just not today...or anything soon, probably.**

**A/N: If the login thing was working earlier, this would've been up faster. But since it wasn't working at all, I had to delay posting this chapter. Reading other people's stories about these two as a couple actually help...but I finally read someone's new chapter today when everything was all said and done and written. It inspires me, though, so I'm hoping that using those other stories as a drive will help me write. I apologize for the whole time issue again...but I'm still here. Doesn't that count for something? Thank you readers for helping me to continue this story :D**

"Quit it! I said stop it!"

"Stop it!"

Something was thrown through the air at me, but missed by a mile and crashed into the wall just a couple of feet from where I stood, hands on my ears, eyes shut tight. I opened those sealed eyelids at the time where the object, a plant pot, hit the brick wall and broke into a million shards. I wasn't lucky to have been out of range of those shards, so a couple of them hit me, opening skin, and allowing tiny bits of blood to flow out.

The sight caused me to stay in place, frozen. I couldn't yell anymore but I felt the sting of the wounds and the stickiness of the blood drip down my body. Those were normal human things to feel. What wasn't human was the horror of dread that filled my entire soul.

"Your mom's gone? Ha. Of course she would be gone. Who would stay for you?"

"Yeah, you're such a freak. It's no wonder she's out of the picture."

"This is karma, bitch! It's what you deserve for every bad thing that you've done."

The boys were yelling and screaming horrible things at me. Their high pitched, breaking voices made its way through my covered ears. I never hurt any of them. I just stayed on my own, not caring about any other person except myself.

"Now you're going to cry about your mom being gone? Wittle wold Jade gonna cwry?"

I heard something else pushing air out of the way as it flew towards me. This time, it made impact and exploded all over my clothes. Pieces of balloon littered the floor, and mushy clumps of mud clung to my body.

"Haha! Little goth Jade West is crying!"

The boys were correct as my emotions finally broke and allowed the sadness to escape though my tear ducts. It was useless to be standing there, drenched in mud mixed with blood, eyes crying, my hands still on my ears. Trying to make them disappear wasn't working. Trying to make all the badness go away wasn't working.

I decided that enough was enough.

Angrily, I took my hands off of my ears and turned around; a little bit of mud flung with my movement.

My eyes focused on the pimply faces of my enemies. They were laughing, carefree, elbowing one another as they took aim with yet another mud balloon.

"Your dad's an asshole and your mom was a bitch. No wonder you turned out how you did!"

Rumors about my family spread among the school like a wildfire. One mistake and the flames roared out of control. We were going to move anyways, hopefully somewhere I could be myself. My dad didn't want to stay where we were; the memories were too much. My mother was gone only a couple of days.

"I said to be quiet." My voice was stern, but shaky. I normally just hid, not defend.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do if we don't be quiet? Little Jade."

I looked around for a plan. Being all talk was nothing. I had to show that I could be tough. My eyes focused on a pair of scissors. They were the ones I had been using before the boys harassed me. I was cutting paper to make for a project, but ended up just shredding the paper to bits. The shredding calmed me from the dread. It made my mind go somewhere else.

I picked up the scissors and looked at them. The metal reflected my image.

"Scissors, Jade? That's the best you got?"

My hand gripped the scissors tightly and I ran forward. My feet sprinted quickly to the boys and in five seconds, I popped each and every balloon that they made, making it explode on them, and was able to jump back a few feet. The boys, dirty and surprised, looked at me.

"What the hell…?" one of them muttered, the "hell" breaking off into a high pitched squeak.

"And that's only what I can do to balloons. Want to see what I can do to flesh?" I asked while glaring at each and every imbecile.

The boys shook their heads so fast, it was blurred, and it took a second for them to get enough bearings to run away. They turned and fled fast, tripping over uncoordinatedly because their bodies grew too fast to get used to.

"Freak!" some of them yelled as they ran in terror.

I only stood there watching them, allowing the tears to fall freely because there was no one there to criticize. I then took a look at my new friend, the pair of scissors tipped with mud. No one would care if they were taken. No one cared about what I did.

I silently walked home to clean myself off.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Jadelyn. I can't be around to babysit you all the time. Be a big girl and go to school."<p>

My father woke me up in that way. We had moved to (insert place here). It was a fresh start. I would be able to finish my middle school years and hopefully move on to the high school called "Hollywood Arts". It would help me fulfill my dreams of being an actress. Or a singer. Or maybe a screen writer. Those were my hobbies before I arrived here. I hoped to accomplish one of them.

"Get the hell up, Jadelyn. This is the last time. I'm not going to be here to wake you up anymore. You should know better."

"You've never been around to wake me up," I said without thinking.

I heard my father pause in the doorway.

"What?" he questioned me, testing if I was about to disobey him again.

My brain considered staying quiet, but there was something in that conservative mind of mine that wanted to fight back, that wanted to be my own person.

"I said," I spoke carefully, making sure each of my words made its way through my brain and out of my mouth in a perfect way. "You have never, not once, waked me up for anything. You've never even baby sitted me. So, what makes you think that you have the right to say those things now?"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jadelyn? Ever since your mom, you have been acting different; more hostile. I don't like it and I demand that you change back at once."

Once I started, I couldn't stop. I wanted to show him that I wasn't a toy anymore. My mouth and brain just wouldn't let things be.

"You can't demand anything from me. I am my own person, father."

The man stared at me as if I were an alien. I probably was, considering how my entire personality changed in a few days.

"Wake your brother and go to school," he told me. "We'll talk about this…transformation later. I've got a lady that I have to see for, uh, business reasons, and I can't be late."

It was later that I learned that the only business there was had been sexual business. But regardless, I did as told, making sure that I didn't make eye contact as he left the room. I had to go to school alone, and I went there with a sort of pride that I never had before. I could make myself strong if I wanted. I could be top dog.

* * *

><p>With the scissors in my pocket, I stepped through the doors of my first class, and sat casually, as if I owned the place, in a seat by the window.<p>

"Who are you?" some voice asked me. I ignored it at first while trying not looking like I care. I just stared at the view from the window, contemplating what would happen in this conversation.

"Excuse me?" the voice was timid. I looked threatening. Which was good. Threatening was definitely good.

I finally turned my head toward the person, a boy who looked like he would take all hard classes and still have time to read a million comic books. My gaze was indifferent.

"Yes?" I asked, bored-like.

"I, uh, noticed that you were new here and since I'm class president, I'm supposed to help you out."

"Who said I needed help?"

"I, uh, well, it's customary."

"Customary? Do I look like I need help? I made it to my first period all easy and I'm smart enough to make it to the rest of them. Now would you mind? I'm busy thinking about ways use these."

By "these" I meant my scissors that I had taken out just for this nerd. His eyes grew in size as he saw me looking at them while smiling.

"You're…you're kind of creepy."

"Naw," I said with a smirk. "I just know what I want."

The guy skittered away awkwardly and when he was gone, my direction got a couple of stares. I made an impression. They do say that first impressions are always the most important.

"Hey," I greeted the stares with a sinister smile. "Is there a problem?"

"No. Not a problem at all. But I like your scissors." Another boy with shaggy, dark brown hair commented with a smile that would win any girl. He wasn't as awkward as the other boys who were going through puberty. It seemed like puberty greeted him with a bouquet of flowers. He walked over to me and extended his hand. "I'm Beck Oliver."

"Jade West. And thanks. They're my favorite."

"You seem pretty cool, Jade. Your style is unique."

I couldn't help but smile. This boy was just…different; special somehow.

"You're a kiss-up, aren't you?" Those words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. It did seem like my brain was rewired to let any opinion I had in my head available for anyone to hear. But I didn't mean that comment in a bad way. I meant it honestly.

The good news was that the boy, Beck, laughed.

"I don't mean to," he explained. "It just tends to happen."

"Hey, Beck! Got yourself a new girlfriend?" some kid yelled from somewhere. My smile quickly faded and I went back to being ashamed of reality.

"Hey, lay off." Beck's eyes then turned towards me. "This girl is pretty awesome. I don't think you should be on her bad side."

I kept my expression indifferent. My goal now was to not let anyone, not even this nice guy, mess with my emotions. Never again.

I just nodded in acknowledgment and turned towards the area where the kid called us out.

"Want to say that to my face?" I questioned, lifting my hand with the scissors so that the entire room could see.

"Uh…" was all I heard before the teacher walked into the classroom to start the day.

The teacher blabbered on about the morning's plans before he finally realized that there was a new kid in the class.

"Excuse me. Are you new here?" he asked me a bit embarrassed because it took him so long.

I looked around the room to tease him about maybe talking to someone else. I then returned my gaze toward the guy and smiled a bit.

"You mean me? Oh, well I just got here and they said to sit in this seat. Wouldn't you know if I was new or not?"

"I just—I uh…" The guy had no idea what to say to that. I realized then that the old Jade was definitely gone. Innocent, young and immature Jade was now replaced by this new, stronger Jade that didn't let the world define her. This new school meant a new start, and this time, things would be played differently.

"Welcome, uhm…" he looked at his attendance clipboard while trying to spy a name that wasn't familiar. "Jade West?"

"In the flesh."

My cunning replies were making the man uncomfortable. So, as a comeback, he regained his stature and told me as serious as he could, "Ms. West, I have a zero tolerance policy about being disrespectful. Now, I understand that you're new, but if you plan to have a successful time at this school, you should recognize who's in charge."

"Mister, I think we both know who's in charge here. I'm but a simple new kid at a new school who has no idea what's going on. You are a teacher who has possibly been here for years on end because you apparently love to work with adolescents going through puberty. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure who here has the most potential."

The guy turned red at my words. I was speaking as though I was as innocent as could be, yet my words were everything but innocent. The entire classroom was silent, watching the battle between me and the teacher. I don't know why I wasn't sent to detention right then and there, but I'm not complaining.

"Very well," the man breathed. "Let's start off the class with some verb tenses. I look forward to, uh, working with you, Jade."

And it was that very conversation right there that made everyone respect me. Before, I was a nothing goth girl who no one seemed to notice. Now, I was the girl that didn't give a damn about what anyone thought. I strode up the ladder of social standards, without even caring about it, and in a year, I was able to make anyone noticed, or publically disgraced.

But all of that happened in a year's time. My first day of school was not over yet.

Apparently, on certain occasions, the school would give some sort of lame recess after lunch. I'm not sure why they would call it a recess considering how we were all shoved onto an opened blacktop with only one ball to play with. We weren't allowed to run around or roughhouse or anything. It was just a break that ended lunch early so we could get some fresh air.

When I showed up that first day, it was one of those days that had a recess. Unfortunately, people still didn't know about my talk with my first period teacher, so I was left by myself when they forced us to "play". I didn't care, though. I had a good book and found some nice shade.

People probably thought that I was pretty weird for refusing to even let the sun's rays touch me. I had my reasons. But I was still left alone because I was abnormal, out of the norm, an alien.

I was perfectly fine being by myself. The book I was reading was dreadful; a lovely tale about the murder of someone's beloved who comes back to kill. I was just getting to the good part when something hit my book, causing it to fall out of my hands.

"Hey!" I yelled in response. At first, my body tensed at the memory of the boys throwing mud balloons at me, but when I looked at who had thrown it, I instantly calmed down.

It was this girl who would've seemed like some normal newbie to teenage years. She was short, with tanned skin and dark brown hair with eyes to match. Her dress was all flowery and it was so bright that it practically blinded me. She was looking away from me, towards the sky, but turned her head to glance at my reaction, which then caused her to giggle.

I wasn't going to let some random girl pick on me, even if she did look like she couldn't hurt a fly.

"Did you throw this," I looked at the ground to see that it was a slightly big rock that attacked my book. "this rock at me?"

"Mayyybeee," she replied and went into a fit of giggles.

"That wasn't funny."

"But it was! You should've seen your face." The girl tried to contain the giggles. It annoyed me a bit. Who in the world would find it funny to pick on the new girl by throwing a rock at her book?

"And how was my face?" I decided to play along for the moment. I had a plan that would shut up those tiny laughs.

"It was all 'Oh!' like this!" And she showed me what she thought I looked like. It looked ridiculous. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was shaped into an 'o'. I definitely didn't respond like that.

"And how does my face look now because of it?" I questioned again.

"Uh…like this." Her face turned solemn. I could tell that she didn't like to be closed up like that, that it made her uncomfortable. It took a little bit of time for the gears to turn in her head before she realized what I was up to.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, finally realizing what I wanted her to perceive. "I'm so sorry. I just wanted to get your attention."

My attention? Normally people would want to ignore my attention. This girl wanted to gain it? How messed up was she?

"Why would you want to gain such a thing? Haven't the rumors started already? I'm someone you don't want to mess with."

"Why not?" she questioned honestly. "You seem really fun."

"Fun how—"

"What are you into?" she asked suddenly. I just looked at her with a questionable look on my face.

"Like…what do you like to do?" she rephrased when she noticed that I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh, singing, I guess." If it made her go away faster, then I was going to just play along.

Her spirits lifted, which made mine depress. "Me too! I love to sing. Lalalaaaaaaalalala!"

People were staring at us when she sang that in a high soprano way. I quickly got up on my feet and covered her mouth with my hand to stop her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She slowly but effectively took my hand away from her mouth. "Showing you how I sing? Don't you want to share too? I bet you sing wonderfully!"

"No! I don't want to sing here, now."

"But if you want to be a singer, then you must SIIIIING!"

"I said to stop that!" I didn't want people to be questioning our sanities. I was anxious that this sort of attention would ruin what I had already started to build.

All she did was smile at me. My feet stepped away from her because she finally calmed down, but then her arm shot out in front of me.

"My name is Caterina."

I looked at her expression. It took me a second to realize that she wanted to shake hands. I figured that this girl was bipolar or something, but then, I warmed at the thought that this girl didn't care what I was and wanted to befriend me.

"Jade." I grasped her hand tightly and shook it. She noticed the tenseness and flinched a second but regained her perky being.

"It's nice to meet you. We're going to be the best of friends!"

"If we're going to be friends, we have to change something."

Our palmed released the other's and the girl looked at me inquiringly. Perhaps there was a brain in that random head of hers.

"What?"

"Your name is too…out there. I don't like it. We're going to have to figure out a nickname for you or something."

"Uhm…" she looked at the ground in thought as she forced whatever sparks in her brain to work. "How about Cat? It's like…cutting out the 'erina' and keeping the 'cat' and I love cats! So it works perfectly!"

"It'll do…I guess."

"YAY!" She bounded towards me and captured me in a bone crushing hug.

"Hey! Hey! I don't do hugs!" I yelled.

She released her death grip and smiled at me. I swear, she was mental, but there was something about her that made me want to accept the mentalness and actually be friends with her.

Out of nowhere, her hand reached into my pocket and took out something.

"What are you doing?" I freaked.

She shushed me and started playing with whatever she grabbed. Apparently it was my phone.

"The hell, Cat?"

"I'm trying to find the camera App," she explained.

I was going to ask about her sanity again but she found the App and jumped to side-hug me, placing the phone away from us.

"Say 'cheese'!" She pressed the button and I heard a clicking sound.

I grabbed the phone quickly out of her hands and turned towards her.

"Never. Do. That. Again," I stated angrily.

"How does the picture look?" she asked, completely ignoring the death stare I was giving her.

I just sighed knowing that I was never going to win her full attention, and took a peek at the photo. Surprisingly, we both looked good. The fact that I was unaware of what she was going to do made me look better than I thought I would've and Cat looked so happy and carefree. We already looked like best friends.

"It looks great!" she yipped.

"Yeah, great." I put back the phone and looked towards the other kids to find them walking back inside. "Recess is over."

"Oh? It is? Poo. This was fun though! I met a new friend and took a great picture. We're going to be amazing! I can see it now! Hey, you know, I have a brother. He's pretty cool, but a bit weird. One time, he accidently bonked me on my head and blood seeped out covering my hair. He got in a lot of trouble, but then I noticed that the red color looked great on my hair! I was thinking of permanently making that my hair color. But wouldn't that be cool! Red hair, red Cat, red…"

And she went on and on until we had to split up to our classes. Even though she was incredibly nuts, I found myself smiling at the end of the day. I made my first friend. She was crazy, but the school didn't seem to mind her. She was apparently special to the other kids. But, my first living friend. The smile wouldn't leave my face.

At the end of the day, I went to a nearby store to shop. I didn't want to go home to my father's wrath. My browsing abilities found a nice locked box that seemed important somehow, so I bought it. I returned home and looked at the picture that Cat had taken. We looked good together. It surprised me how happy she was able to make me. So, in the end, I printed that picture and placed it, and my pair of scissors, in the box. I was planning to make my good memories last this time.

* * *

><p>The memories hit me like a tidal wave. I looked at the door where Cat had set a barrier between the both of us and died a little inside. We were supposed to be best friends forever. She was my first real friend. She was actually the most important person in my life. And I feel like this time, she wouldn't accept my apology quickly. Without the pills, she was more in control, and so were her sorrows.<p> 


	16. Forever Gone

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. If I actually did have that show be at my command, I would have changed it by now to be so very different...yet highly amusing :D**

**A/N: Okay...so...I'm thinking that no matter how many times I apologize...it won't do bull. It took me a while to write this, but I wrote wayyy more than usual. This is actually the longest chapter that I've written so far. If it's slightly boring to you, I apologize, but as you can see at the end, it get's pretty exciting. So, that means that the next chapter will definitely include much more excitement! The date when it will be posted...I don't know. I do know that there aren't going to be a lot of chapters left; probably about four more or something. I do appreciate every email I get that says that someone favored this story or put it on story alert or reviewed because it means that people are actually reading this and I yippee inside. So...I will try to write as much as I can as fast as I can. Any comments are welcome. I have a friend that said that he was going to go back and fix all the blemishes that I made in the past chapters. And I think I got out all that I wanted to say. So...with that being said, enjoy!**

I tried not to let it bother me. I tried my damn hardest not to let it bother me. Putting back on the articles of clothing, grabbing my bag with who knows how much money in it, exiting the door planning on coming back with a fresh head and fresh thoughts, I tried not to let anything bother me. Not Cat, not my past, not the future. It was now the present, the only place worth thinking about.

I allowed the numbness to wash over me, filling my thoughts and emotions. Being pained about a little argument was entirely useless. I was still living, and being so sensitive that I was going to stop living was just plain stupid.

Cat was just too sensitive. Yeah, that's it. She's just too sensitive for her own good. Those pills denied her the challenge to toughen herself up. She's too dependent on them. Yeah…too dependent.

Thinking to myself wasn't helping at all. I honestly wished for a second that I had a little tablet that could make the thoughts go away. That would make me one of the biggest hypocrites on the planet. Better than the alternative, I guess. But trying to disregard all of the thoughts that just wouldn't shut their trap wasn't helping, so I decided to try something different, I drove away from my problems.

If people knew me, they knew that this sort of action wasn't the normal Jade. I don't even know who the normal Jade is anymore…At one point, I thought that she changed, like she did years ago. Now, I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. I'm not sure what I'm doing, what just happened, or what's going to occur. I didn't plan anything, and I'm starting to regret it. The one thing that I didn't want to be right now was alone, but most times, people don't get what they wished for.

My car pulled up onto the curb of a nearby bank. Even though the car stopped, my body was still frozen in the seat.

"The hell am I doing…?" I murmured to myself. I looked at the steering wheel. The leather surface was normally so comforting. I was in control of the vehicle and could go anywhere I wanted to. Now, it felt like a burden, like it caused so many problems. The one thing I didn't need in life was more problems.

A tap on the driver's window caused me to jump.

"Whoa!" some man said in surprise. He was peering in at me through my locked door. The creepy guy seemed a bit on the homeless side; unshaved beard and mustache, messed up clothing, a hungry look to his eyes. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

"What do you want?" I asked in demand.

"Do ya need your windows cleaned, miss?"

"No," I answered blatantly.

"Ya sure? It looks like this car has been through an awful lot."

"What's it to you?" I stared coldly at the man. Hobos weren't supposed to be a bank, anyways. Looking around him, I found that the bank was actually right next to a gas station. The station was empty, meaning that his only customers would be over here.

"I just need some change for some food, miss." The man looked at me with fake misery. It was all fake. He probably just wanted a quick buck for some booze.

"Get away from my car or I'll run you over."

The guy put his hands up in defeat but still wouldn't shut his trap.

"Ya seem a bit on edge, ma'am. Perhaps a problem with a loved one?"

I stopped at his words, and he noted it a bit too happily.

"Ah, I see," he continued. "It's normally those kinds of issues that affect a woman like ya. Ya seem like someone who doesn't let even the mightiest of bears stop ya. The only thing that can really affect ya is a direct bullet to the heart."

"Would you just leave me alone and go stalk some other car for beer money?" I would've driven away but there was actually a purpose for coming to the bank. I needed the money before my father woke up from his coma to cancel the credit cards.

"No, no, ma'am. Ya got me all wrong. I only want food, not beer. Beer ruined me a long time ago."

"I don't want your freakin' life story. I just want to go to the bank without having to hurt someone because of some sort of harassment."

The man stepped away, knowing that my words definitely matched my actions.

I cautiously got out of my car and locked the door, careful of bringing my valuables and keeping a sharp pair of scissors in my hands.

It was a tough decision to make; either going inside and risk being detected of stealing money because what daughter would want to clean a man's bank account, or stay outside with this guy and risk being kidnapped. I figured that I had better luck with the hobo so I went to the outside ATM and started punching numbers.

"I don't mean to bother ya, miss, but if ya would just hear me out, I promise it'd be worth your while."

"And what could a hobo offer me?" I commented with as much hatred as I could while continuing my business.

He hesitated a second, and I knew that the words hit where I wanted them to, but still, the guy went on.

"I have information, ya see? I know what it's like to be in a battle with a loved one and be losing because that loved one is fighting with an omnipotent power."

My eyebrows arched at the guy's vocabulary. For a man in tattered clothing, he may actually know what he's talking about.

"Okay, go on. You're amusing."

I just heard the man smile as he did what I told. "I was once in a fight with my beloved because she was addicted to drinking and drugs."

I paused for a moment when he said the word drugs, but I quickly hid it so he didn't know that it affected me.

"I tried so hard. I took away the bottles and pills but she fought just as hard to get them back. It was her life. It made her feel good in this world that makes us feel bad. She just loved that feeling too much, and I lost her. Eventually, I gave up on the fight, and did the whole 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'. One sip from the bottle and I was lost in that bliss, too. I drank away my whole bank account. My love was gone by then. She died from alcohol poisoning. But once I realized that I had fallen in the very rut that she was in, I put a stop to my habits. Unfortunately, that left me in this mess. I lost my job, I lost my wife, but finally, I have done one thing right. I am turning around my life and am going to make my love proud. I'll admit I did consider suicide. Everything was just so horrible there really wasn't much of a choice left. But now, I try to scavenge lose change while awaiting my nightshift at the very cemetery that my beloved is at. I decided not to give up on her anymore. Her body may be gone, but her spirit is definitely with me."

I bet that the guy thought that this sap story would make me feel all good and sad inside, hopefully enough to give him more than just a few coins. Too bad for him, I called the story a bunch of bull. It was a normal crap anecdote that anyone could make up on the spot. But it did leave me some sort of insight. I wasn't sure where any of this was going, but I started this fight, and I never walk away from something I started.

By the time the guy finished his story, I had already emptied out a lot of my father's bank account. The guy really did have a hell of a lot of cash in the place, but now it was cut down by a lot. I know that it would be pretty stupid to be walking around with a bunch of hundreds in my pocket, but I was going to transfer it to my own account. No one knew where the money came from, and no one will know either. The plan was to wait a few days, get rid of the card somehow, and make myself inconspicuous. Now, Cat and I can make a living.

"Ma'am?" the old man called when I walked passed him, not even acknowledging the fact that he shared his life's story with me. "That's sure a lot of a bills ya got there."

"Beat it," I commanded. I was almost to my car but, lucky me, the guy was stalking my every step.

"I'm hoping that maybe my story helped ya a bit."

I turned to face the rotting hobo. His look was as helpless as ever. He saw that I had a lot of cash, probably too much on my personnel, and was hoping that maybe I'd give him a hundred or two. He was a bottom feeder, wanting to get his hands on any morsel available by any means necessary.

It was time to start off the long awaited rant.

"Excuse me, dear hobo. Why would you EVER think that your fable of drinking and death would ever help me? That's America, man. Heck, that's everywhere! Wherever you go, you will hear these sap memories of people who were lost to the bottle. I. Don't. Care. I have my own problems to deal with and I don't give a damn about yours. Now, would you mind? If you couldn't realize by now that I wasn't gonna give you a cent, then you really are still as stupid as you were when you 'joined them'."

I was expecting the guy to look as crushed as a stepped on puppy, but his expression didn't change. He was still as helpless, but also determined. The man just wouldn't give up.

"I am leaving now. Feel free to dumpster dive for your meals," I attempted again to make him feel miserable. With those words, I turned around, hoping that I could just sprint the few yards to my car.

"Miss, I learned long ago that giving up means that yur sure to die. Even if ya spit on me, I won't stop trying to turn my life around again. Yur just being a bully is all. If ya had a heart, or if that loved one of yurs is truly an inspiration, ya would look inside yurself and find the good that I know is reshaping yur heart."

I didn't stop walking as I replied, "If you use that 'inspirational' crap that you keep trying to put on me in real life, you'd make a great motivational speaker for those that care!"

"Ya don't understand, miss." He tagged right along at my side. "I want to be one of them when I finally got the money for it. I can help others that need it and make sure that they don't end up like me or my wife. I believe in that strongly, miss. I just need to save up enough to get me going on that road."

His antics were really starting to get on my nerves. I stopped suddenly, almost causing the guy to trip over my leg, and I turned at him with the angriest of eyes piercing into his.

"I have got my own set of problems. My mom has been gone for years. My dad gave up on her to get with some woman who hates my guts. My dad stopped loving me and attempted to kill me recently but ended up killing my step-mom. A vicious gang is out to get me and my girlfriend. Yeah, that's right. I said girlfriend. My dad was going to harm her horribly right in front of my eyes because, according to him, SHE MADE ME GAY! Now, I am on the run away from the police. My dad is stuck in a coma while my step-mom is stuck in a grave. This gang that wants so badly to protect my girlfriend considers me a threat, and they're not afraid to kill. So, with that being said, I am not only running from these potential murderers but I could also be running from the police for multiple reasons. One: for just ditching out of nowhere. Two: because I am linked to the crime my family committed recently. And three: for being in this crap in the first place! Now, you may have had a crappy life all because of alcohol, but you have never been through all of this. And to top it off, my girlfriend is mad at me. So, here I am, trying to save both of our arses with a pissed off girlfriend, a pocketful of cash that could also get me arrested, and I have to deal with you when at any moment, the supposed gang could whisk my girlfriend off to their secret headquarters and kill me any way they like. Does hearing that make you wanna jump me again for my cash?"

Like I expected, he was stunned in place. When you piss off a teenage girl, you really piss them off. It's not one of those problems that just go away like nothing. A girl remembers when someone pisses them off, and they will get revenge. Remember that if you ever get a girlfriend.

"Now," I said as calmly as I could. "You were right before about me being tougher than a bear. I have something right here that could end your life."

I opened up my jacket pocket to reveal the gun that I had taken from my father.

"This is the very weapon that killed my step-mom. I have a lot on my head right now. What's a murder of a useless street rat going to do to me when I could go to jail for much worse things that I didn't even cause? I can easily make it look like an accident."

Slowly, but surely, the man walked backwards away from me. His hands were up as if to mean peace because he finally realized that I wasn't going to give up anything.

"I apologize about yur issues, miss," he spoke lowly. "I'm sure that things will work out."

"You can't be sure of anything when even as you're trying to make life good again, a gun is pointed towards your face."

"I know ya wouldn't do such a thing, ma'am. I know it. Wanna know why I know it?"

He was trying to change the subject, easy to tell, but I wasn't one to easily forget.

"Humor me."

"Because ya weren't the one to pull the trigger that killed yur step-mom."

This time I was frozen. It didn't take long for his words to reach where he originally wanted them to go.

"You still don't know that. Things change."

"Most things change for the better. That girlfriend ya got, ya love her. I know ya do. Yur risking yur life now to keep her safe from the stuff that could also send her to jail, or worse. We are alike, ya see. I tried to save my wife and failed. Yur trying to save yur love, and is close to failing. But ya won't fail. No, ma'am, ya won't."

I stood there quietly. My feet where standing right next to my car door. I could've just sat inside and forget this ever happened. I know that I was changing; for better or for worse I indeed was different. This man, this horribly hopeless hobo, with his words that could touch a soul was here standing in front of me hoping to get a ticket to save the world. The fact that he really was trying so hard for something must've meant that he was special. Perhaps, his existence was meant for good. Maybe mine was, too.

"Here." I shoved a bill in front of his face. I didn't even look to see which bill I pulled out of my stash. He took it carefully in the palm of his two dirty hands.

I expected him to just bolt, to run away gleefully as he finally got his prize. He didn't do that, though. He stood there and stared at the bill with an emotion that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't happy or ecstatic. It wasn't even mockery. It was as if he was so thankful for that bill that he couldn't believe it was in his presence. I guess I kind of understand that feeling.

He was about to open his mouth to say some form of thanks but I cut him off.

"I'll be going now. Have a nice rest of your life."

As quickly as I could, I sat down in my car and shut the door. I didn't have to look to know that the hobo was walking away with a giant smile on his face. If only it was contagious.

I sat there in my car just thinking to myself. It was quiet enough for me to actually be at peace. I figured that I could just be sitting there for hours and it wouldn't matter. Cat could go find food if she wanted. There was supposed to be some sort of buffet in the office, anyways. I wouldn't mind skipping a meal if it meant that my mind was at peace. My ever raging thoughts quieted? Yeah, that would be paradise.

But unfortunate for me, I needed to plan. Just going off on improv won't help anything, especially my cause.

The crazy old man was right about something, though. He and I did share a situation. I'm going to be different from him. I have to be. Ending up like that, in the middle of the streets begging for a living, that was no life. I'd rather be dead than scrounge for change to maybe be someone. I'm supposed to be someone anyways. I was going to be an actress or a screenplay writer or something. If I could survive this, I would make a movie out of it and it would win academy awards. Cat would be the star.

_Knock knock._

My eyes bolted to the passenger's side window. If that hobo came back to ask for more change, he was going to leave without a penny on him.

"Jade? Is that you?"

After a clearer look I saw that it wasn't the hobo at all. In fact, it was someone that I thought I'd never see again.

I unlocked the car doors and yelled, "Come on in, Beck."

* * *

><p>The door opened and closed with ease. Beck knew me, so he wasn't afraid to get in a car with a runaway that was rumored to have shot both her parents. If it was Robbie or some other kid, they may be a little iffy on it. But Beck seemed to still be on my side. I believed it when he sided me during that whole Slap conversation thing. We'll both be needing answers here.<p>

I was thinking that there'd be some awkward silence between u before things started, but he jumped as soon as the door closed.

"I bet you're wondering how I found you."

He was so calm that it scared me. I should be used to his ability to stay comfortable at awful times but this time around, his comfortableness made me on edge.

"We can start with that," I answered his accusation. "How did you find me?"

"It wasn't that hard. Years of being with you and getting to understand what goes on in your head have finally paid off."

"You make it sound like the thoughts that run through my mind are complicated and bad." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well," he smirked. "They kind of are."

I allowed myself to smile back. The iciness that I first started with was melting. He was easing himself back into my personal bubble; but it wasn't hard to do that for him. I've always trusted this kid. I know now that I used to love him, and I still do, but I'm not longer in love with him. I could finally see that as he talked. I felt like we had a brother/sister relationship now, best friends, I guess. Maybe.

"But how could you have figured out that I'd be here, right now?"

"Well, Jade, I know you. At times, you're a planner, but when things get rough and spontaneous, you go with your first instinct. Running was obvious. You would head somewhere in this general direction, since there isn't many other places to go. Being at this bank right now, well, I know that you would realize quickly that you needed cash. Ergo, the bank. You would want to get the cash as quickly as possible before anyone realizes that it's missing. As for this specific bank, I figured that you would drive for a couple of miles and I was able to just long enough to notice your car in this off-side bank that can be seen by that major road over there."

He pointed his finger straight ahead to a road that had a bunch of cars driving to and from whereever they might be heading. I then noticed that his car was parked not too far from mine. I wonder how long it had been there.

"Okay, so why are you here now?"

"I think it's my turn to ask a question," he cut me off. "What's been going on? I want a story until the very end, please."

I hesitated. There was a lot of information. Much of it caused me to be in trouble. Telling him would make Beck in the same situation as me.

"I can't tell you everything…"

"Why not?" His expression was filled with concern as he looked at me.

"A lot of what I know has put me on the naughty list for some people…If you knew it, then you would be in danger."

He didn't even blink as he said, "Then just talk around it. If I don't need to know it, then I won't pry."

And so I took a deep breath and discussed everything from the Haunted House to now. It took a while; at least 45 minutes. I kept out the parts about the pills and the gang. I even had to tell about my prank with Tori without getting into detail. As I spoke, Beck didn't interfere once. He was just nodding his head like a good listener. When I finally got to the part about reading the conversation on the Slap and having the fight that ended up here, I could tell that Beck wanted to interject for a second, but he didn't. He let me continue on to the hobo and then I finally ended it.

"…and then you came about. I really thought that I was never going to see any of you again, let alone yourself."

"I still care about you, Jade. That never stopped. I knew that something was up and a lot of us were worried. I didn't know that things were so bad. Your dad really tried to kill you?"

My head nodded in agreement.

"Wow…I never would've expected."

"Neither did I…" I turned my head towards the road filled with cars going on with their normal lives. Normal was something I never was. Being normal would be boring, I suppose. But all of this drama was making me sick.

"I'm not sure what to do, Beck. I don't even know why you came to me in the first place. What do you plan to accomplish by sitting in my car at an off-way bank?"

"I want to bring you and Cat home. Tori has been put off to the side. She's no longer a problem. I want you to sort that whole shootout before the cops automatically put you at fault. The fact that you ran doesn't look good. People actually think that you kidnapped Cat."

"I would never do that!" I turned towards him quickly in anger.

He put his hands up as a warning and the anger that I had subsided.

"I know that, but others don't. Maybe if you tell the police about these people that are threatening you-"

"You have no idea what they are capable of. I still don't know all that they can do. Cat has told me some things and they sounded so serious that I wouldn't doubt that it could happen."

A flashback reminded me of the dream that I had the night that Cat slept over. I shuddered slightly.

Beck thought for a moment. He was contemplating a plan, I was sure. I may be out of tactics but I'm always up for inputs.

"I'm thinking that maybe you should confront those people as well. There's obviously a misunderstanding. You probably care about Cat just as much, if not more, than those guys that are against you."

"But…if things go back to normal…"

"Yes?"

I didn't know why I started to say those thoughts. I didn't even think about it until it just jumped out of my mouth. If things did go back to normal, then Cat would continue taking those pills. Even though they make her feel better, I just hate that she wants to be dependent of them. I want her to be herself, mental flaws and all.

"Nevermind. I'll do whatever it takes to keep both of our asses out of danger."

Beck smiled at me. "Now that's the Jade that I've come to know and love."

"Do you still love me?" I asked suddenly. It was once again one of those thoughts that just jumped out of my mind. I started that bad habit when I changed schools a few years ago, when I changed my entire being. Now, I can't stop.

It actually made me a bit skeptic when Beck didn't answer quickly.

"Well?" I pushed.

"I, uh, do a bit. Tori isn't anywhere near you. I thought she may be all she shows; a fun-loving, over exaggerating but still amusing girl. Turns out, she has inner feelings that can't be stopped once they are shown. I can't deal with that. It's just too much to work with. You, you always showed how you were feeling and you were always honest about it. That was something to admire, even if many of those feelings were of hatred. But even though you hated so many people, I knew that I was never one of them. Tori…she can hate one day and like another. I think she's bipolar. But she's definitely no you and it makes me…miss you. But I know now that my chance has gone. I still wonder though…"

"Wonder what?" I asked.

He didn't say a word, and it took me a few seconds to notice that his body was creeping towards mine. It was a few seconds too late.

Beck's lips collided onto mine. It was fast and small, but a kiss nonetheless. His lips fled as soon as they landed.

"What…" I was stunned.

"I was wondering if either of us felt anything…" He refused to look into my eyes as he talked.

I questioned that myself. Maybe that was his motive for tracking me down. Maybe if he saved me, he thought that we could get back together again and he'd be my prince charming. But, I didn't feel anything. There was no spark to the kiss and no needing for more.

"Did you feel anything?" I had to ask him first. I still cared if he felt devastated, for some strange reason, and I didn't want him to be.

"I'm not sure. Did you?"

I had to keep away from his eyes as I responded with all honestly, "No."

I heard him chuckle.

"What's funny?" I turned back to him to find that his expression was the opposite of what I expected.

"You're Cat's now. I was stupid to think that you would ever change ways. The way that you act with her is so…special. You've never acted like that with anyone, not even me."

"None of it is acting…" I muttered.

"You're right. You're finally being yourself, the good part of you. I will never get in the way of that."

"Okay, okay. Enough sappy crap. Are we going to try to fix this mess or not?"

"Jade, you need a plan. You've been running off of adrenaline for the past day or so. Are you even thinking about your opponents? The police, your dad, and even those 'people' that you can't talk about. Have you thought about what they are thinking, what they might be planning?"

I haven't, actually. I wanted to hit myself in the head because not once have I thought about what they might be doing, and that is so unlike me. The police were probably trying to track me down, that was obvious. They were probably waiting until my dad woke up to get answers from him since he is the only suspect that they even have. Maybe my dad is still in the coma. I don't know how long those things last. Mine was only a few days. If I was lucky, his would be a few years. But if he was wide awake, then he would try to put the whole thing against me. If normal Jade was around, she wouldn't be running. She would try to reach the cops before her dad did. And about the gang…they would be stalking our every move. Trying to. There was a good chance that they actually were…and I left Cat alone to fend for herself.

"We've got to go," I announced suddenly.

"Huh?"

I didn't even let the boy out of the car. I started it up and raced out of the bank. Beck struggled to put on his seatbelt while I just left mine alone. Cat was alone, and she has been alone for maybe three hours. An entire gang can do a million things in three hours.

"Where are we going?" Beck yelled. His eyes were on my speedometer and the arrow was raising higher every second.

"Back to the motel. I left Cat alone, Beck! I left Cat all by herself and anything could happen to her!"

"My car!"

"We'll go back for it later."

Cat was much more important than a piece of tin.

My car swerved around others, barely missing them by inches. Beck was holding on for his dear life. I was in the zone. I had to get to the motel before anything else did. How could I be so stupid?

I slammed on the breaks as soon as we made it to the destination. Without even turning off the car, I jumped out and sprinted to our room. Sweat was running down the sides of my head and I didn't give a damn whatsoever. Cat was all I could think about. Her danger was all that I wanted to put an end to. All I wanted was for her to be safe.

When I made it to our room I found the door slightly ajar. Upon entering it, I was cautious. The room was a mess and I yelled the girl's name. I yelled it repeatedly and loud. Tears were forming and running down my cheeks as no sound greeted my own.

"Cat!"

"Cat where are you?"

"Cat!"

I opened every door, checked every crevice, knew in my mind that she was not here but wished in my heart that she was.

"CAT!"I screamed when I came up empty.

I felt arms grab around my torso and they squeezed tightly. I wouldn't stop my hysterics.

"CAT!"

"She's not here, Jade! She's not here!"

"She has to be here! She just has to be! CAT!"

"Calm down! Freaking out does nothing! We have to chase her. We have to track her down and get her back! There is nothing else to do!"

I didn't stop screaming her name until my body filled with exhaustion. Beck was still holding me as I crumpled to the floor, crying my soul out, no longer yelling because I lost my voice.

My heart was gone.


	17. Captive

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious because if I did then people would know that something wasn't right. It wouldn't be as "innocent" (even though it really isn't all that innocent if you listen closely ;) ) as it currently is. Yeah...I can be evil at times, but very amusing.**

**A/N: Is today really a Wednesday? If it is and the calender and my friends didn't lie to me, then I am going to let out a "whoop" because it has been a while that I actually was on time with one of these things. At first, it was incredibly hard to write this chapter, but then it got easier when I actually gave myself time. It's on the longish/normalish side and I think what happens may be interesting. I hope you people like it because as I started to write, the ideas just jumped in my head, and I thought that they were good. If you don't, then I'm sorry and I'll try to make it up with a better chapter. By the way, all the reviews that I got for the last chapter made me smile and want to write this one way faster than I've been doing. Thank you all so much (:. **

Cat POV

I love her. I never knew that word could've been used with such power, but it can. I love Jade West with everything that I have. I knew it really quickly, but I never knew the extent of that power until now, when everything had turned against me. Even as my mind was clouded with happiness, I knew that the one person that would even have a chance at breaking through my walls was Jade. It made me so happy when she returned my feelings. Those few moments that we were able to share before things got out of hand were heaven to me.

I don't blame her for anything. I blame myself. I caused her to leave the room unhappily. I caused her to be caught in this trap that had been set up just for her. I caused her to have these terrible enemies that even she would lose to. I caused all of that…and I feel terrible for it. I'm not sure what's going to happen now, to either of us, but I wanted to see her face one last time before…before anything happened. Just one last time would satisfy me.

"We're going to have to put her under…I'm sorry, Cat."

Jade POV

I'm not sure how long I had been sitting in the corner of the room. I stopped crying about ten minutes after Beck grabbed me and forced me to calm down. I've never really been much of a crier. The sadness would find other ways to be expressed.

Beck hasn't said a thing, either. I think he knew that there really wasn't much to say. If it wasn't for human emotions, then I would be out there right now tracking down the redheaded girl. I couldn't, though. Going back out there as a broken mess would only cause me to screw up and have something bad happen. So, until both Beck and I knew that I was going to be okay, we were going to just sit here and try to live.

Another 300 breaths passed before someone said something.

"She's going to be alright, Jade."

My eyes refused to look up into Beck's. If I didn't look at him, then he wouldn't see all of the crazed emotions that were flying through my mind. If I didn't look at Beck, I wouldn't start to cry again.

"From what you said," he continued. "they're not out to hurt her. Maybe now would be a good time to stand up to these bullies and speak out before worse things happen."

I was still quiet. My mind really didn't know what to say at this point. Of course, the obvious thing would be to rescue Cat. But, rescuing her from people who think they are rescuing her may just end up being fatal. It is one complicated situation I got my ass in this time…

"Please talk to me. I only want to help."

"There's not many things to help with, Beck. You really can't help at this point. If those people figured out that you knew even a little bit about them, they'd be after you, too."

I heard Beck get up from his spot that was situated a few feet from me. The pounding of his feet ended when he got to me. He kneeled down, put his hand under my chin, and forced me to look at him. All my emotions were free in my eyes, and I knew that he saw it because his expression drooped.

"You don't understand. They don't know that I'm a factor, here. I could be, like, a secret weapon. I'm something that they didn't expect. I'm pretty sure that those 'people' thought that you would be too scared to even entrust a little information to outside forces. I'm guessing that they really never met you."

The boy made me smile a little, but it was so small that it shouldn't really count.

"I feel so broken, though…" I told him quietly after a few minutes of silence had passed.

Beck didn't let me be myself for once. He knew that I was better than a crying complainer who just lets things be. He knew that I would, should, and could fight my way to get something, especially if that something was incredibly important to me. He knew, and so he stayed near me, took my hands, forced me to look at him and commanded, "You need to go after her."

I looked back at him and realized my mistake of letting my emotions out. Sure, there are perfectly good times when someone can use a cry, but my time was up a while ago. One shed of tears was enough for me.

"Of course I do, Beck. It would be stupid of me not to."

Beck just continued to hold my gaze while making sure that I was thinking clearly. I know that I'm capable of making the best plans if I was thinking straight.

"Then what are we waiting for?" he finally asked. "Let's go get your Cat back."

I sighed because even though he was giving me a pep talk, it did absolutely nothing.

"It's not that simple. These people are cunning."

"So are you. And you know what happens with two flames: when they combine, both of them put out the other."

That got me thinking. The whole two flames metaphor could be taken into some form of literal sense.

"I think…I have an idea," I told Beck.

He smiled at me and stood up, ready to do what I told him.

"Okay! So, what's the plan?"

"We're going to go to my car and drive somewhere, hopefully it would be a good lead…"

Beck was already shoving Cat's and my belongings into the few bags that we brought. All I did was walk over to my box and pick it up. It really was the only belonging that I truly cared about in this place.

"I just hope that Cat is doing okay…"

Cat POV

My head felt like a bunch of pillows with rocks stuffed in them instead of fluff had pelted it. I knew that I was put to sleep. I wasn't that unknowing. Ever since I stopped taking my pills, my head had been much clearer but, well, I guess now it wasn't very clear. I know who abducted me, though. If anyone knew my story, it would've been very obvious. I'm just worried about why they had to knock me out. Sure, I fought for freedom. They bursted in the door about an hour after Jade had left and I tried to make a run for it. I guess it was pretty stupid of me to do that because I had nowhere to go, but what else could I have done? I didn't want to leave Jadey. I didn't want her to worry about me being gone. I wanted to be with her, not my adopted family. Jade was my family.

But for some reason, they weren't very lenient when they tried to catch me. I ran around the motel room like crazy before I found a way to run out the door and into the parking lot. They made a mess of the room as I tried to dodge the three people that Delta had sent for me. I guess always being on the edge of my feet had helped, for a little while. As soon as I made it out the door and started sprinting while screaming for help, one of the guys had tackled my body to the ground. It hurt worse than falling off the edge of a slide before sliding down. My body was already sore because of the fight with Jade's dad, so I couldn't really do much to get free. I had no other choice but to be taken captive.

They shoved me into their car, but not before blindfolding me. I didn't understand why they would even do such a thing. I was supposed to be family, no matter what. Delta had always had some sort of sister connection with me, stronger than the others. She knew that my heart would do crazy things if it really wanted something. She knew that the day would come when I would find my special someone and want to be with them. I just didn't know why she was being so cruel.

The last thing that I remembered was being blindfolded in the car, and I heard Delta's voice say to knock me out, and then apologize. It all confused me.

The confusingness of the past and the killer headache I had all combined together and I groaned. I had no idea what was going on, and I started to feel scared. I could feel my pulse grow faster and the sweat beaded down the side of my head. I finally opened my eyes to see that I was still blindfolded. And yet, I was more scared of what was going on with Jade than I was for myself.

"Are you awake?" a voice asked me. The voice surprised me even though I recognized it clearly and heard it not too long ago. The shock made me nod my head slowly.

"Good. Cat…I'm sorry that we have to do this. You disobeyed our only rule. You know what happens when someone breaks that rule." Her tone was so calm and caring. I knew that she still felt some sort of protective instinct for me, but why wasn't she using it?

"Please don't hurt Jade!" I shouted. It didn't matter anymore what I had done. I promised Jadey that I would protect her, too. She deserved someone to finally make sure she was okay.

"We have no other choice," Delta replied sternly. I felt her hand touch my shoulder. The familiarity of her hands made the headache slightly go away. If I just ended this mess now, things could go back to normal. I would be part of the family. The pills would make the bad things go away. But Jade… Nothing bad should happen to Jade.

"You don't understand! She didn't do anything wrong. She kept the secret like I told her to-"

"But you didn't," she cut me off. Her hand released my shoulder and in a second, my blindfolded was whipped off, the wind from the action making my hair fly.

It took a bit for my eyes to adjust to the little light that the room had. I was in a chair, tied up, and facing some direction, and I knew exactly where I had been taken to. But Jade didn't know that. At least, she didn't specifically know that. But if they didn't catch her, I just knew that she would try to rescue me. I knew it so strongly in my heart that I smiled a little and started to tear up.

"Why are you crying?" Delta asked, slowly making her way in front of me so I could see her. She still looked as strong as ever. Her blue eyes were icy cold as they stared into mine. It was a gift of hers; she could intimidate anyone with just those eyes. I never found them quite so cold before, just extraordinarily beautiful.

"Jade is going to find me, you know. She's going to find me and save me and we're going to go somewhere far away!" I tried to be tough in my response, but it was hard. I loved my family here…but Jade was all I wanted if I had to chose one. She was my world. She was my pills without being pills. I realized then that she was all I needed.

Delta only looked at me uncertainly. I was afraid that she might think of me as a betrayer. I didn't want her to feel betrayed, I just want her to know that I found someone and her job of keeping me safe was finished.

"You know we have people tracking her down right now."

"I know. You sent Mark and Kev after me. You probably have them staking out, right? But aren't they our toughest fighters? Why did you send them for me?"

She sighed and turned her eyes away from mine. All I did was look at her pleadingly as she walked away slightly, took a chair, and brought it over to me to sit down. She once again looked at me; her blue eyes went into my soul. It seemed like she wanted something from me, but I didn't know what.

"I know you, Cat. I know that you were going to be difficult. I've seen how people like you act. You're not the first of us to find someone and want to leave our family for them."

"I'm not?"

She was still looking straight at me as she talked, her arms folded in front of her. "Nope. The first time was terrible, though. I'm pretty sure that you're aware of our dislike of outsiders. Trust none of them. You may have found your 'soul mate', but you are young and naïve, Cat. One day, she may be your soul mate but the next day, she'll be your enemy, hurting you for her own benefit. Trust your family, not your heart because it is easy for the heart to lie."

"You don't know that!" I yelled without thinking. My body jerked so roughly that my hair flew in front of my face and got in my mouth. I started to spit it out while being so frustrated and I nearly gave myself whiplash. I was still thrashing about when I felt Delta's hand touch my cheek to remove the hair. After it was gone, I gasped out of shock because of how close she had gotten.

"You're mind isn't clear, Hun," she said so calmly that it was frightening. She reminded me of lioness. She was so beautiful on the outside, but the whole point of it was so that she could get close to her enemies, make them off guard, and she'd go in for the kill.

"My mind has never been clear! Jade showed me that. The pills made me unable to think. But now, I'm thinking clearly. I know that all these years I've been doing the wrong things."

Delta stepped back in disbelief. Her hand was removed from my cheek, allowing the hair to flow a bit back in front of my face.

"Have you seen yourself, lately? You look like you've been in a fight. I know that you were, and you were almost killed doing so. Never had you been in such danger with us. You were never even ten feet from a gun while we were there for you. But when this Jade character came in, that was when your life had actually been threatened. Think logically, Cat. You can die with her so called protection. It's all a fluke! A lie! We're the only ones that can actually defend you."

Her body was still near mine and I could feel the angry vibes coming from her, yet she showed no anger in her expression.

"It was all just bad timing," I tried.

"It wasn't bad timing and you know it."

I started to get frustrated again. Jade had tried so hard to save me and was actually successful in doing so. She knew what she was doing. Why wasn't Delta listening to me? No one ever listens to me! Only Jade had… She believed in my intelligence. All I ever was to my families, both of them, was just some loopy girl that could be considered a house pet. At times, Jade had also treated me like one, but that's because everyone else did and when people do something different, they get attacked. It was brave of Jade to accept me, my love and all.

All the thoughts and frustration caused me to tear up again. I felt the drops leave me tear ducts and run down my cheek. I didn't try to hide it, I never did. Delta may be intimidating, but I also had a way of influencing people.

"Don't cry, dear," Delta said in a soothing voice while closing the gap that she had made before. I looked away from her, still letting my tears shed. She wasn't acting like a loving sister.

"Why are you *hick* being like this?" I asked her, still letting my tears flow. I was so caught up in my sadness that it gave me the hiccups. "You know that she *hick* didn't say a word. That she *hick hick* is doing her best to make sure that I'm safe *hick*. You're really smart, Delta *hick*. You would accept anybody that tough into our family, especially when she *hick* risked her life for mine."

I heard her sigh again. She was so close, too close. It felt uncomfortable.

Her hand touched my chin and lifted my face to look at her. For some reason, every nerve in my body was starting to scream. Something wasn't right.

"There's another reason why I'm so protective of you, Cat." Her tone was so serious. It was no longer soothing.

"Why *hick*?"

"Remember when you were kicked out of your house? You didn't come straight to us. You did eventually, but not as soon as it happened. I did a little research on you. Some would call it stalking, but as you know, we specialize in it and it's for logical reasons. It was very strange behavior that you would choose some common friend over your true family. So I started to study you. They way that you behaved, the things that you did, and so on. I'm very good at reading expressions."

She tilted my head a bit and looked at me as if she was trying to gain some information.

"You're frightened. Something is scaring you, whether it be for your life, that nuisance's life or…of me?"

I gasped a little at the end of her sentence. It was surprising how she was able to read my mind.

"Maybe all three," she continued and let go of my face. Delta backed away again, but only a step. My nerves were still wild.

"But let us go back a little further to the time that we met. I knew you were special, Cat. I knew that there was some sort of…potential in you. All you needed was to be loved and I knew that I, we, would be able to nurse you back up to health and you'd be forever safe."

"W-where are you getting at?" The tears had postponed. What she was telling me didn't make much sense and it was so confusing that I started to shake my head.

She turned and sat back in the chair. Her expression was remote and far away. It seemed like she had her own inner battle of thoughts to fight over.

"All of those actions that you had shown when I studied you came to the very conclusion that I figured out in only a day's time. You were into girls. I find it pretty funny how I didn't see it before. Who would've guessed that you'd be good at hiding it?" She made a quick, emotionless laugh while looking away for a short second, only to rapidly return to me.

"If only I had known sooner."

"Why would it matter if you knew sooner?" I was afraid to ask but I did anyways. Maybe if I bought more time for Jade, she would find me faster.

"Because, Hun, you're special to me. And if I knew sooner…" she scooted her chair closer to mine. "I might've beaten this instigator to you."

I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to do. This was much much worse than the time that I had to decide which ice cream to get before my brother got hit on the head. So much worse. I wasn't even sure that I heard right.

"Wh…what? What are you saying?" I forced myself to make the words. Delta was scaring me so bad. I trusted her like a true sister and thought that she was only there as my guard.

"I love you, Cat, but more than just family. If this idiotic Jade hadn't gotten in the way, and if I knew sooner, we could have started something so powerful and you would've always been on cloud nine with both me and the pills. There would never have been a day where you were unhappy. I can make you happy all the time. There's only one factor that is stopping you."

Her eyes were so blue, so icy, so calm and serene and focused. They were the most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen. Looking into them, I could see the life that she could offer me. I could learn to let my heart feel for this person who had always been there for me. But then I saw Jade's blue-green eyes and how stern they always were and also how scary they could be yet I knew that somewhere deep deep in those eyes, there was some girl waiting to be loved and to love. They were safe eyes.

"You're shaking your head, why?" Delta questioned me. I didn't even notice that I was doing so until she mentioned.

"I…I want Jade."

I didn't want to know how she would react but I couldn't close my eyes or turn away.

Delta was only quiet. She was thinking about something, and I know that it wasn't going to be about setting Jade free and letting us be together.

"I am sorry that you feel that way…" she finally commented in a very low voice.

I wanted to take it all back. I felt so bad about hurting Delta's feelings, but saying sorry about who I love is like saying sorry that I dyed my hair red, and I really wasn't at all sorry for doing that.

"I…" I still wasn't sure what to say, although I was very relieved that she hadn't lashed out on me. Then again, she could've been planning for worse things.

Delta stood up and raised her hand to stop my words. She didn't even look at me as she asked with a practically dead voice, "Are you sure that you don't feel anything for me?"

I shook my head and replied, "Only as family. I'm so sorry."

"No," she said quickly and breathed an unhappy laugh. "I'm sorry for you. You may be trying to save Jade, but all that you've done is put her in more danger. I can't stop this, Cat. I could've but…I'm sorry."

She started to walk away.

"Wait. Where are you going? What are you going to do to Jade?"

"I can't be here any longer, Hun." She didn't even falter a step.

"What if I do leave Jade? What if I do leave her for you? Will you spare her?" I cried out with so much begging that tears started to fall.

That made Delta pause, but it also made my heart feel heavy.

"Perhaps."

"I'll do anything if you don't hurt her," I promised.

Delta turned around to face me again with a smile on her face. "Alright, let's make a deal."

Jade POV

It had taken hours to go back to the bank, get Beck's car, drive the many miles back into town just to drop off said car and then head to the very area that held Cat's nightmare. Add rush hour and human needs to that mess and you've got a recipe for a very unhappy Jade.

"We're taking too long," I stated angrily. My hands clenched the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles were turning white.

"Just stay cool. They're not going to hurt Cat, I believe that." Beck was trying to keep me calm as well as he could but you can't really tame a wild animal when it goes into a frenzy.

"How do you know that?" I snapped.

Beck didn't let my anger affect him. "You said they were her family, right? Who hurts their family that they are killing to protect? It's just illogical to do that."

What he's saying may seem accurate, but I just couldn't help but feel that Cat was in danger in some shape or form. The motel kind of proved that there was roughhousing going on. What family fought to kidnap their own? Of course, explaining it to the poor employee at the front desk had been quite amusing. I don't think he'll be able to sleep without him seeing me in his hell of dreams.

"I don't know Beck…"

"You said that you know of a place where they might have Cat, right?" Beck decided to change topic. I didn't mind. Whatever got my thoughts off of any tortures was fine by me.

"An approximate place. I Google searched it on my phone while you were putting your car away and I was supposed to be hiding."

"I didn't think that then or now is a good time for the cops to find you, especially since you don't even have Cat. They could have jumped to a thousand conclusions by now."

We practically had to sneak back to his place and I had to be a couple of miles away from his house at some run down gas station. At least there weren't any hobos begging for money. If that had happened again, I would have surely lost it.

"Besides all that, I do know maybe of where she is."

I actually only knew of where she found after those rapists did their…dirty deeds to her. It was the only trash area by the edge of the ghetto. There had to have been a place somewhere around there with any clues.

"I have a question, Jade."

"Oh yeah? Go for it."

We were only a few miles away from the borderline. I think that Beck noticed my anxiety level peaking.

"How much are you willing to risk to save Cat?"

I wondered what kind of question that even was. One look at Beck told me that he was completely serious about what he just asked.

"Everything."

I paused and looked forward. "Why?"

"Because you may have to risk everything."

I was going to ask him to explain that, but we had finally crossed over the line that separated safety from certain death.

I was going to need all the luck in the world to survive this one.


	18. Rescue Mission

**Disclaimer: Me, being the author of this fanfiction, does not have any copyright to Victorious. I am the author of this fanfiction and the owner of many random objects in my room. That's it. I'm not special.**

**A/N: Soooooooooo I just was like, I wanna write and I wanna publish something like a chapter and what not. I realized that this could go on longer than a few more chapters if I set the story right. I'm not sure if you readers want it longer, I mean, I can end this in like two or three chapters, but your comments on things help me keep moving and adding in emotions and thoughts and events that I hope that you all like. I may be getting update out faster and having them be much longer than before because that's kind of my mission here. After reading other fanfictions and loving their length, I wanted to increase my own. My goal, especially for my next story, is at least 6000-7000 words per chapter. If anyone is interested about my next story then at the ending of this one, I'll give some ideas about it and would love to hear your own opinions. But, with that said, I love to just keep talking and talking and I still don't know if people read these because they are usually long so I am going to put duct tape on my hands now and let you read. Enjoy: **

Jade POV

I've seen the ghetto before, but it was nothing like this. Imagine the dirtiest, scariest, shadiest alleyway that you can make up in that bland mind of yours, and then multiply it by 100. Even I shivered with fright as my eyes took in the fear and grime of the place that Beck and I had ended up at.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…" I couldn't help but mutter. Neither of us laughed.

The car continued to move forward, though I had to dodge so much debris that I felt like I was enduring an obstacle course.

"Jade, where are we going?" I heard the nerves in Beck's voice.

"We are going to save Cat."

"I know that but…we may end up trying to save ourselves."

I stopped the car roughly and Beck ended up slamming against the glove box.

"The both of us are rescuing that girl even if it means that I lose an arm and a leg. I owe it to her."

I stared straight forward at the streets that held certain death as I said the words so meaningfully that I knew that I would risk a bullet just for one life. A month ago, it would have surprised me at how willing I was to put my hide in danger for someone else's. But now, it seemed so normal that bravery started to fill me. I wanted to march right in each and every dilapidated building and command information. I felt that strong.

Beck, on the other hand, was not nearly as courageous as I was.

"I think this might be too dangerous for only the two of us. Maybe if we went back and got some help, we have a better chance of finding her and successfully saving her."

"I can save her with one hand tied behind my back," I said sternly. My eyes wandered over to Beck's and I saw him shaking. "What's wrong?"

Beck noticed me watching him and he flinched. "I…uh… I'm just remembering the last time we were caught in a similar situation."

I was about to ask what he meant by that but he stopped me by continuing, "The time we were in the giant cupcake and it broke down?"

The memories flooded back: The cupcake that Cat had us make. Trina sneaking into the damn thing when no one wanted her. The wheel blowing out and Beck and André running for help but ending up running back.

"It's because you were jumped, isn't it?"

Beck nodded his head solemnly.

"I don't think you realize…but I have something that can protect us both, here."

The boy raised an eyebrow until I showed him the gun that I had hidden in my jacket. His eyes widened. I'm not sure why they were; whether it be because he wondered how I had gotten it or maybe if I would actually use it.

"I know how to use it. But we're wasting time just sitting here."

"I still think the two of us is not enough."

"Too late," I smirked a little as I took the car out of park and continued forward. I wasn't afraid to use the weapon at all. If someone attacked me then I would take it out and start shooting. But only if I was provoked, not by random. I knew that Cat wouldn't be too happy if I had taken out someone innocent.

"I'm really sure that we are making a stupid decision," Beck whined. I would've ranted at him but I felt like doing so wouldn't help the situation at all. We both needed to be strong, stronger than concrete, especially because neither of us knew what to expect. For all I know, we could barge into a building and find the place styled all Saw-movie like. As interesting as that would've been, I'd rather go without that nightmare added to the collection.

"It's way too late to back out now. We've arrived at our first suspected area." My voice was even, but when I parked, things weren't down to earth at all.

It seemed like time had traveled. I stepped out of the vehicle and scoped the only area that I knew connected somehow to the gang. The garbage dumpster looked as I thought it would; disgusting and filled with so much junk that not even hobos would dumpster-dive. I could just imagine innocent Cat, brutally hurt both inside and out, laying just before the garbage in a broken mess. It was so real that I bent down and looked at the spot that I'm sure Cat had been because it was stained with blood. My entire body shivered with both fear and pity. No girl, especially as kind and gentle as Cat, should ever go through something so terrible. I hope those criminals got what they had coming. Karma is a bitch.

"So, what are we looking for?" I heard Beck shut the door to my car and I quickly locked it. It's much better to be safe than sorry out here.

"Anything that is out of the ordinary." I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for either. Most of this place screamed of some form of cleaning, but I knew that there was a clue somewhere here. There had to be. I had no other leads.

"Did you find something?"

I didn't realize that I was still kneeling at the spot where Cat was found. The burgundy on the concrete looked so out of place.

"Uhm, no. I thought there might've been something over here, but I guess not." I stood up and walked away from the spot. I didn't tell Beck everything about Cat because it wasn't mine to say. All he knew was that Cat and these people were connected, but he doesn't know how.

"Okay…well…I'm not checking the trash. I don't think that any living creature would come out alive after taking a bath in that." Beck pointed to the place that smelled terribly like vomit, beer, cigarettes and a little perfume combined. I chuckled at his comment, though. I know that he was trying really hard to stay calm because I was doing the same. If I focused on the present, then my mind wouldn't wander to the unknown answers for the questions that I had.

"I'm pretty sure that if there were any clues in that bin, it would've disintegrated by now."

"And I'm pretty sure that if I put you in that bin, you would disintegrate, too."

The voice was not Beck's. It was a low, husky, threatening voice that caused my body to freeze and my hair to stand on end.

"We don't want any trouble," Beck was quick to act. Unfortunately, his voice wasn't anywhere near as threatening as the man's.

I heard some scuffling but for some reason my body refused to turn. Fear had pinned me down.

"Don't move, pretty boy."

My back was facing the man so I had no idea how to size him up. His voice said that he was a giant, but even mighty voices could be midgets. I was praying so badly that it was a midget.

"He's right," I forced my own voice to be as stern and powerful as I could gather. "We're only here to look for a friend of ours. That's it."

"Turn around, sweetcheeks, or I'll hurt the fine boy over here."

My body decided to work again and faced his as quickly as it could but to my dismay, he was not a midget at all. The man, dirty and ugly, stood at probably six foot three. His biceps were larger than my head and in between his arm and his body was Beck.

Adrenaline pumped through me all at once. I didn't expect danger to happen this quickly. Since we weren't caught as soon as we crossed the border, I assumed the only trouble we would have would be when I found Cat. But I promised Beck that nothing bad would happen, and I don't like breaking the few promises that I make.

In only a second, I took out the gun that was hidden in my jacket and pointed it at him.

"We're not stupid to come here unprepared," I announced, but I was still scared for Beck. I wasn't sure who would be faster; my bullet, or the guy's arm to twist my ex-lover's neck in a way that it should never be.

"You are stupid to come here and expect to find some friend of yours alive. How old are you two? Sixteen? Seventeen? This was a death trap for all three of you."

"What do you want from us?" I didn't let his threats get to me. Cat wasn't dead, and neither were we. Beck and I lasted a good 30 minutes and nothing bad happened, until now.

The guy never answered me. He was looking me up and down like I was some toy to him. My body didn't like the fact that I was being considered as a meal, so I loaded the bullet into the gun and pointed at the man again.

"I asked a question."

"I'm not afraid to kill this young man," the guy said.

"And I'm not afraid to shoot you," was my comeback.

The man shook his head with a smile on his face. "That would be a very stupid decision, little girl. You kill me, and you have the rest of my family hunting you down until you are caught and punished in ways you would never imagine."

The word "family" rung in my ears. Families were everywhere. Good families, bad families, adopted families. Cat had an adopted one and both of us lost our real families. Interconnected relationships between people made them strong and happy. Families were the only way to live, and being without one is the only way to truly die.

"Then I will kill each and every one of your family members if it comes to that."

I looked at Beck and saw him shaking his head. I knew that he wanted me to calm down and give this guy what he wanted so he would leave us alone, but if we did bow down like the insignificant canines that this man considered us as, then he would never let us be.

The moment continued to last. This misshapen gangster was only looking at me, and his arms were getting restless as they tightened and loosened their grip on Beck's neck.

And that was when I noticed it. It was ripped and crumpled and barely in view, but I knew what it was in pretty much no time at all.

"What's that in your pocket?" I asked. I didn't ease up my body, but I had a plan going. Smarts have gotten me out of many situations before.

Beck strained his neck to try to follow where my eyes were looking. I worried that if he tried to move any more, the man would react somehow. Lucky for me, the guy fell for my distraction.

"This?" He released one arm from Beck to reach into his right pocket and pick out the object that might save both of our lives. "I found this."

"That belongs to me," I declared. The man looked at me both questioningly and angrily, accusing me of a lie. He was still clutching the object between his thick fingers, but he wasn't being more threatening.

"What makes you say that, huh?"

"Open it up," my voice commanded. I slowly started to ease the gun away. If I did so, maybe he would release Beck.

The man was still looking curiously at me, but followed my instructions. He used one finger to open the fold of the picture that was in his pocket, and his eyes widened.

"This is you?" He said it more like a statement than a question. His arms finally dropped Beck and went limp, making my friend fall against the dirty floor with an "oomph". Beck scrambled to get out of the proximity of the guy and he stood next to me. The boy's body was sweating like crazy and he was breathing heavily, but he was safe. For now.

"Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have said that that picture was mine." My confidence was boosting a bit. The fact that he seemed surprised to find me in that picture must've meant something to him. The thing is, the very picture that he held in his hands was the last picture that Cat had on her personnel; the one with both her and I at the carnival.

"This picture…I only saw the half of it. I only saw this girl with the red hair…" The tone of his voice grew sad.

I didn't allow my own emotions to be tricked by his sudden bipolarness.

"That's the girl that we're trying to save. What do you want with her?" The guy only looked at me with remorse. I honestly wasn't sure what to think about this situation. Here I am with a guy who wanted to kill both Beck and I, the two of us at a standoff as to who would knock out the other first, and yet one small comment from a picture that wasn't his turned him from a badass to a softie? Something obviously wasn't right here.

"You're trying to save _this _girl from this place?" he asked me, not even acknowledging the fact that I questioned him first. I nodded to him in reply.

He looked uneasy for a second, then slowly walked his way over to me and reluctantly held the picture in front of him.

"Have it," he demanded, and I took the picture quickly before he could change his mind. My eyes glimpsed at the memory caught in time and I felt a flood of happiness enter my system at the sight of Cat's happy face. Soon she'll be in my arms again.

"What's with the change of heart?" The guy had already started to go back to wherever he came from, but he wasn't going to go away that easy. I looked at Beck from the corner of my vision and saw that he was just as confused as I was…as well as still slightly shaken.

"I did a bad thing years ago and I'm going to make things right," the man spoke. "I found that picture by a warehouse a couple of blocks away. Head East three streets down and it should be on your right. Be careful, though. The people that live in that warehouse are worse than me."

And just like that, he disappeared into thin air. Okay, not really, but he just took a left down an alleyway and his footsteps quieted until there was nothing to be heard.

I let a couple of breaths go by before my legs collapsed under me. The adrenaline ran out.

"…that was so close…" I muttered to myself. Or to Beck. At this point, I really didn't know. We weren't even an hour in this hellhole and we came so close to some fight that one of us barely made it out alive. My eyes wandered over to Beck in my weak state and he was also on the ground breathing so heavily that I thought that he was having a panic attack.

"You okay?" I asked between my own heavy breaths.

Beck nodded his head but I knew that he wouldn't walk away from this the same kid that he was only moments ago. This was a dangerous task. I knew it when I signed myself up to being Cat's protector. Guilt started to flood my emotions when I realized that I pretty much forced Beck to come along for the ride. He wanted to go back for help but…I didn't let him.

"I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault," Beck tried.

"But it is. We should go back and get help. We shouldn't be here alone. We need-"

"Stop, Jade." Beck held his hand up in front of him and weakly scooted over so that he could place it on my shoulder. "It hit me that we are running out of time. If we actually did go back for help, who knew how late we would be to save Cat? We need to keep going."

I only looked at the kid. So many thoughts ran through my head that I could say as a reply to his statements, but none of them worked. I could've said how grateful I was for him or how smart he is or something like that, but nothing seemed to fit. So instead of being a sap-up and saying something that someone might comment in a movie, I nodded my head and stood up, helping Beck get back to his feet as well.

"What do you think his problem was anyways?" Beck asked, referring to the man recently.

My mind pondered to the scene. He had a picture of Cat and me that seemed to make him sad. Obviously, he wasn't sad about me, otherwise he wouldn't have threatened to end my life. It had to be about Cat. But he said that he did something wrong and wanted to make things right, but only after I had commented about us trying to rescue that particular girl. He did something wrong…

And then it smacked me as if I stepped in front of a speeding train.

He was one of the guys who raped Cat earlier. He had to be. Maybe he didn't actually do the deed, but if he was with his crew then he wouldn't have stopped them.

Beck noticed the light bulb in my eyes and looked at me questioningly. I couldn't tell him, though. I knew that things in the past should be left there, but Beck may have wanted to go back and interrogate him for justice. We didn't have that time. Something in me knew that I only had a certain amount of minutes before it was too late.

So, I only shook my head and pointed in the direction that the guy offered for us.

"It's nothing. He was probably just on something. Let's keep moving, but on foot. A car really wouldn't be helpful if we want to be secret."

Beck almost didn't let me go, but in the end, he just shrugged and let me lead.

"I just don't want another 'episode' to happen. I think I'm good to go for the rest of my life with scarring events."

I chuckled and kept moving.

We had to keep each other sane, so it didn't really make me feel like Beck had gone nuts when he went from being a scared bunny to a comedian. When all other emotions are gone, it only leaves either laughter or crying. Laughter is always the better choice.

"Hey, I think it's going to rain," I heard Beck say from behind me. In only an instant later, I felt a raindrop land on my cheek. My finger raised to touch the water. It was small and, of course, wet, but nonetheless a cry from the sky.

"I think we should hurry. Don't want to be here when it starts to rain like hell," I spoke and started to jog.

The boy was able to keep his stride with me and in only minutes, we had reached the very warehouse that the man told us about. It was as crummy and disgusting as the rest of the place, and could definitely hold a couple hundred psychos on drugs. The place was something I never wanted to walk into willingly, but I was determined to anyways. Who needed safety?

I looked down to my side and reached to take out the picture that I saved. I inched it out just enough to see Cat's face. Her smile warmed me once again, and I knew that I would be able to rescue her. I knew that we were meant for each other. The only thing in the world that I wanted with all of my heart; she had to be mine. There was just no other option.

"Ready?" I asked the kid that was shaking slightly next to me. I put back the picture to extend my hand and grab Beck's. My palm squeezed his, and he slightly calmed.

"We can't back out now," he responded and I let go to slap him on his back.

"Nope! We're either going to die or come back with a certain redhead. Let's see where our luck lies," I stated with a laugh. Might as well get the good feelings going since this is probably the last time I will ever feel good. In all honestly, I was afraid of what I was going to find in there.

And then things were all serious. Beck laughed with me for a moment but then shut his mouth and motioned for me to the same. I nodded and bent down, signaling Beck to wait for a second, and I crept over to a window that looks into the warehouse. As carefully as I possibly could, I craned my neck to see what was inside the place. It was incredibly dark, and the gray from the weather didn't help at all, but I couldn't see any movement. I doubled checked the place just to make sure and then waved Beck over.

He came as fast as he could and I put a finger to my lips to make sure he remained quiet.

"I don't see anyone in there, but the place is huge. I think we might have to split up."

I knew that that idea was the most stupidest, idiotic, dumbass decision that any person could ever make. I am definitely one of those people that watches a movie and screams in my head that the main characters are all going to die when they split up; they really deserve a horrible murder when they do that. The thing is, there really was no other way to find Cat unless we did split up. When I say that the warehouse was huge, I'm talking mansion huge. I'm saying that it would take days to search the entire place. It probably was some sort of ultra-mega-shit-holding warehouse back in it's day.

When I told Beck what we should do, his eyes grew huge, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was about both of us ending up dead on sticks, but I continued to reinforce my thoughts anyways.

"This place is probably filled with secret rooms. It wouldn't do either of us any good if we searched together and the last place we would check would be the room that Cat is in. Here, give me your phone."

I didn't even let him grab his phone because I yanked it out of his pocket. I quickly set the cell on vibrate and made it so that I was number one on his quick dial list. I shoved it back to him and went to my phone to do the same, except he'd be number one.

"Every ten minutes or so, I'll send you a text to tell you what's going on and you have to answer immediately. You can do the same if my ten minutes are up. If we are in danger, we only have to press two buttons to call the other and then leave it be. You have the app that shows you where you are when you call someone, right?"

Beck nodded his head while trying to let my plan soak in.

"Okay good, me too. So if either of us gets into a problem, we'll be able to find the other. This plan will work, Beck. Trust me."

The guy looked so uncertain that I thought he was going to run away with his tail between his legs. But then, something seemed to come over him. Bravery was clearly seen in his eyes and he grasped the phone strongly between his hands, then shoved it back into his pocket.

"Okay. Who should take what area?"

I smiled at him. I never knew that I could depend on anyone in my life. Everyone that I basically got close to ditched me, defiled me, or caused some form of pain, but this one boy who had dated me once, who maybe even loved me, or still, is here basically going on a suicide mission with me. We both were at the edge of known safety, and he was willing to jump into a tank with sharks for me. And possibly for Cat as well, but still, for me.

So, with my brain caught up in a plan that I'm sure had at least 50% chance of working, I told him what he needed to know.

"You can take this room. Unfortunately, I only have this one gun and a pair of scissors on me. You can take the scissors and use it as a projectile or something, just in case. Who knows? You may need to cut a sand bag from the ceiling and have it hit someone's head. But take this room since I'm pretty sure that it's empty. I'll go on the other side of the building and start looking there. Deal?"

I could still tell that Beck was uneasy about splitting apart, but he agreed anyways. I then helped him slowly open the window that we were both crouching by and he slipped inside without a sound. As he started to walk away, I couldn't help but watch courage at work. He disappeared into the darkness.

"Time to go, Jade," I said to myself. Hey, Beck wasn't here to give me a pep talk anymore. Regardless of my habit of talking to absolutely no one, I sprinted my way around to the back of the warehouse. I had to dodge trash after trash making sure that I didn't step on any stray glass or banana peel. I suddenly gave a blessing to someone or something because I was so happy that my favorite pair of shoes were combat boots.

It was a pretty long route to the back, but like I said before, the warehouse itself was massive and the more land the two of us covered, the better.

After about three minutes of sprinting, I noticed that the clouds were crying more. Dozens of teardrops hit my face and clothes. I wiped the water from my face, only for it to be attacked by double the amount as before. I wasn't sure why mother nature was acting this way, but I didn't think of it as a good omen.

I continued to travel on.

Cat POV

"She's in position. The girl is going around to the back of the warehouse, right in good view. We're ready when you are, Delta."

Kev was talking to Delta through a radio. I just knew that he was spying in the bushes where Jade wouldn't be able to see. Especially since it was raining.

Even though this meant that Jade was in so much danger, I couldn't help but smile. She had found me. Well, she found where I was hidden, which meant a lot. It meant that she was so smart and cunning to be able to go from one clue and successfully find the hidden treasure.

"Perfect," Delta spoke back to Kev through the walkie-talkie. Her back was turned towards me so she didn't see me smile, but her body whipped around right after her statement.

"This menace will soon no longer be a problem, and then we can get back to happily ever after," she told me. I didn't like her saying these nice things. They didn't fit well, like a circle doesn't fit in a square hole. I didn't speak a word, anyways.

"What's wrong, Cat? I thought you were okay with us doing this? Aren't you?" The blonde girl came closer to me and softly stroked my cheek. I wasn't bounded like before, but I didn't dare turn away from her affection. Doing so would only cause more trouble for Jade.

"I, uh…"

"Second doubts, huh? Sweetie, this is the easiest and safest way for us all. You only have to do what I say, and she'll go away free with no harm. That is what you want, right?" Her piercing blue eyes looked into me, analyzing whether my words were true or false. I did want her to be safe, but I was pretty sure that this would cause as much damage as actually doing physical damage to her.

I took a big gulp and nodded my head. My mind was finally clear enough to know that no words would mean that she wouldn't be able to see through my lies. Delta had been trying to put me back in routine with the pink pills, but I was able to postpone them. She only figured that I was worried about Jade ruining things, so I guess that once my…mission is done, I'll be back in lala land.

"I thought so. Don't worry, Hun. Soon, it will be just you and me and whatever you want to do. I can be your prince charming, or I guess princess charming. Very soon, love."

Delta hadn't removed her hand from my cheek, but she moved it towards my chin and lightly pulled my head towards hers. I knew what was coming, but I really wish that my mind was somewhere else as it came.

Her lips touched mine in a calm way. She pushed herself into me, trying to make the kiss more rough, and I had to follow her lead. I felt my heart break in two because I betrayed Jade. I kissed someone that was not her. I kissed our enemy. Delta may have done many bad things, but this was the worst.

When Delta finally released my lips, I had to hold back the tears. I knew that I would get my chance to cry, but if I cried now, only bad things would happen.

Delta seemed satisfied, though, so she gave me one last wink, turned around, and spoke into the radio.

"Okay, Cat and I are heading off to our places."

Her head looked back and me and smiled, "You know what to do."

Jade POV

The rain started to become worse than ever. If I was only about 60% of water before, I must be to about 80 by now. The wind made it even worse. If someone was stalking me, I wouldn't be able to hear their footsteps at all, let alone see them, because the wind kept howling in my ear, throwing the debris around like it was playing catch with itself.

I only kept hoping that I was going the right way and was close enough to the exit to the back door, or if there even was a back door. The only thought that kept me going was that I was so close to Cat that I could practically feel her. She was here, I knew that she was.

It seemed like hours until the wall that was on my left finally turned 90 degrees. I allowed myself a quick sense of relief and as soon as I turned the corner, I saw something that almost made my heart stop.

The familiar red hair.

The look of innocence.

A short girl that didn't deserve to be in this miserable weather at all.

It was my rain angel.

"Cat!" My voice let out at sight. I wasn't sure if she could see me at all, but I definitely saw that it was her. There was no way in hell that this was only a mirage. It was her. She was as drenched as ever, the rain making her shimmer with beaded lights. Her red hair was so easily identifiable. That red hair that I will always know belonged to her. The red hair that meant safety and warmth.

My legs that were so tired just moments ago started sprinting towards the girl. I was going to wrap her in my arms and spin her around until we both fell onto the ground in giggle fits, no matter how embarrassing and foolish it was.

I was going to go up to her and kiss her with so much zeal that we would never stop.

I was going to make sure that we would escape every single possible danger this realm held and just be with her, the two of us, no one else.

I was going to be her hero, but as soon as I was within ten feet of her, my sprint came to a sudden stop.

She wasn't at all happy to see me. In fact, her face held a frown, sorrow, as if I was the last person that she wanted to see.

"I don't want to see you anymore," her voice said.


	19. Locked Up

**Disclaimer: I'm sorry, this is not the owner you are looking for. *waves hand across body in a magical way***

**A/N: Balloons everywhere! I have enough people liking this thing to reach more than 100 reviews and stuff! W00! Where's my kazoo? Anyways...I suppose I probably should've maybe done something special or idk...thank each and every one of you personally. I would, I really would, but the last time I PM'd someone about a review they made, I never heard from that person again. Maybe I'm just bad with people...But I am so proud that so many individuals even like this story. They may not comment on it, but each new [alert] does make me smile. I just want to know what's going on in your mind. The best thing that an author can do is take what the public wants and manipulate it so that the story can be better than it is. But...thank you people. GAH! I'm being overly optimistic today. It's all your fault.**

**But, here is the next chapter that I believe came out earlier than my normal one per two weeks schedule. It would've been on yesterday but...I for some reason could not log in. Darn tech problems. **

**Enjoy!**

The drops of water falling from the sky tried to cool my burning head. So many thoughts and feelings were running around free inside that skull of mine that it gave me a headache. But even though the rain was attempting to sooth it, it had no power whatsoever to calm my heart.

The damn heart of mine was beating so loud and hard that every thump hit home. I could hear it so easily, and I bet that Cat could, too. It was my mistake for putting my walls down. It was my mistake entirely for letting someone in.

"Wh…what?" my shaking voice asked. I would lie if I said that I had any strength in me to keep my cool. I did not know at all how to react, or if this was a sick joke of Cat's. Something in her expression told me it wasn't a joke at all.

"I have to let you go. I can't be who you need me to be…I can't be who I want to be. I can't have a friendship, let alone a relationship. I don't even know who I am anymore."

The words were escaping out of the girl's mouth. The two didn't fit, though. Her beauty, her red hair, her dimples and big brown eyes; they just didn't connect with what her body was speaking. I could sense that she was sad about something, but the words were so rough and stern. Just a few hours ago, she would have jumped a gun to try to save me. But now she wants me gone?

"I can't be your…friend?" I tried. My body was running on instinct. It wanted Cat just as badly as my heart did, and it would try anything, even plain friendship, some form of bond, just to keep her. My legs started shaking out of fear and confusion. I felt a teardrop fall down my cheek and the saltiness of my sadness combined with the rain.

"I've realized that with you, I was always put in danger. And I put you in danger as well. I don't want to do that. I want us both to be safe."

"But I can keep you safe!" I blurted out, my hands outstretched before me as if they were going to grab onto Cat. I was still plenty of feet away from her, but if my legs weren't shaking, I probably would've tried to hug her, touch her, something…anything.

The girl was shaking her head very slowly. She put one hand out in front of her, her palm facing me.

"Stop, Jade. I don't want you anymore. I've realized now that my real family can protect me much better than you can. I almost died being with you."

"You didn't die, though!"

"But I _almost_ did. That counts way more than still being on my feet right now. I'm sorry, Jade."

Her eyes refused to look into mine. I figured that out just then. She wasn't just closing me out, but she didn't even look at me. Something wasn't right here.

I just continued to stare at her while trying to analyze what it was she was trying to do. Cat's not stupid, and I know her. She wouldn't just turn her back on me after a few hours; even with pills she wouldn't. She has proved that to me time and time again, many moments without me even knowing her struggle.

While speculating her movements and actions for the few seconds that both of us were quiet, I noticed that she was shaking as well. It wasn't shivers from the cold rain, though.

My eyes then spotted her finger. It was so small and barely visible because of both the distance and the rain, but I saw that it was pointed somewhere. I took a quick glimpse at where she was pointing, and was confused. Her finger lead to a bush that was filled with so much garbage that even rats wouldn't be comfortable in there. I was about to think that her finger pointing was nothing, but then as the first lighting strike illuminated the sky, I saw a piece of metal light up from the reflection. It was a video camera. I was being watched…and so was Cat.

I looked back at her and put two and two together to figure out what was going on. Her so called "family" was making her do this and she was probably going along with it for my sake.

"You don't have to do this, Cat," I called out to her. My voice was much stronger than before, knowing that Cat hadn't abandoned me. My legs also quit their shaking and I took a tentative step towards the girl. "I'm not going to give up on you. On us."

Hearing my words made Cat snap her head up to look at me. Her eyes were filled with shock, and even in the rain, I saw her blush a little.

"But…I don't want you anymore! Can't you understand that? My family is…is…much more important than you!" Her words were mixed a bit. I knew that she was trying so hard to turn me away. I'll admit that it did hit a bit towards the heart, but her message got across from the finger-pointing. My guess was that she wanted me to know why she was doing it and play along so that we were both safe. I stepped into this boundary knowing that safety didn't exist anymore.

"I don't care." My feet took another step towards her. She noticed that quickly and hesitantly took one step back.

Her head was whipping around the place. Her expression screamed of being terrified. I knew what I was doing was stupid, but like I said, I didn't care. I found this girl and I was going to bring her home whether she liked it or not.

"I don't want you!" Cat screamed. "I never wanted you! The only use you were to me was someone to make me feel good while my family wasn't around. I only used you! And now your purpose is over! So, GO AWAY!"

I started walking forward with confidence. Her words weren't going to faze me because I knew that they weren't true. She wouldn't have pointed that camera out to me if she really meant what she said.

Cat started getting anxious. Me walking towards her was not part of the plan. She tried not to look around but couldn't help it. All of this was being recorded so that people, probably Delta herself, was watching.

I was only about a foot away from her when I stopped.

"I don't care about any of that, Cat. I took responsibility for you and I'm going to stick to my word. Here." I reached into my pocket and took out the only thing I knew would convince Cat that no matter what, I was not quitting.

One glimpse at the picture made Cat look even worse. She may have wanted to keep me out of danger by doing this entire show, but I was as stubborn as a mule, and showing her that picture made her aware of that.

I took my chance while Cat was distracted. In only one movement, I closed the rest of the space between us, shoved the picture back in my pocket, used my other hand to lightly grab her chin and pull it up, and my lips made impact on hers.

I was expecting at least a few seconds where I could feel her touch against mine; her body warmth, although shaking, making me heat up all over. I thought that the feeling of her lips would be felt longer; their familiarity reminding my own of the shape and texture. I was pretty sure that we had more than a minute to be together, with my hand still cupping her face, the other placed on the small of her back to keep her close to me, our lips, no matter how resistant Cat's were, moving together in perfect rhythm without ever wanting to be broken.

My emotions flew within me. The sadness that I had before along with the betrayal, disappointment and anger all went away with a seal of a kiss. The happiness that was there was all I needed to survive. Screw oxygen…I could last on just this one moment.

But all of that ended quickly.

In maybe half a second, all hell broke loose.

Cat was yanked away from me roughly and my own body was sent spiraling backwards. I heard Cat yelp, but I was too shocked to say a thing. A heavy force attacked my body, holding it down, and I knew then that I was powerless, that this was as well as a trap as it was supposed to make me miserable for the rest of my life. That camera that I saw earlier told me that nothing good would come from this, and I was well aware that I would be harmed if I tried something. Life is just too short to be safe about anything.

My voice finally came back to me and I yelled as loud as my singing pitch could possibly reach, "FUCKYOU ALL!"

And then my body endured a seizure as electricity passed though me before my vision went black.

* * *

><p>"Cat…Cat…?"<p>

"Cat?"

"Oh, shut up!"

"Ow!" Pain whipped me in the head as a wakeup call. By instinct, I jumped up on my feet as soon as I was fully aware that someone bonked me. "The hell was that for?"

I wasn't sure who I was angrily questioning, but I knew that someone had to be there.

"You were freaking murmuring our sister's name in your damn sleep. Shut the hell up, would ya? I'm trying to relax here."

My eyes were trying to get used to the dull surroundings as I attempted to recollect my thoughts. I didn't even know that I talked in my sleep. Really, I considered myself an incredibly sound sleeper that could snore through a tornado. I remember being told once that I slept through the worst shit while "visiting" Yerba or whatever the flea bagged town was called. I don't believe half the stuff I was told during that eventful night, but if it's true, then I don't know why I would be talking this one time I slept.

But wait, how was I asleep?

"Sit down!" that same voice yelled at me. Only because it surprised me did I obey that command. There were just so many questions that quickly consumed my mind. What did happen? And why did it happen? Where was I? And, for the love of anything good in life, why was I always the one to be knocked out somehow? That was obviously clear. I wouldn't just sleep on this cold, hard floor voluntarily. It smelled just as bad as…as…the dumpster from before.

That one thought continued the storyline that I had forgotten. It took a few minutes, but as I was sitting on the disgusting floor, I remembered each and every detail that led me up to this point.

"At least this time I wasn't literally knocked out…" I muttered to myself when I figured out that someone electrocuted me with a Taser. I'm not sure which did worse damage to my brain cells, having them being beaten out or them being shocked into dust. For now, they just mess with my memories.

"What was that?" the voice, it was definitely a man's, questioned strictly.

"I was just commenting on how politely you knock out your victims. The last time someone wanted me quiet, they hit me in the back of the head with a prop," I replied loud and clear. In my head, I was wondering if I could possibly talk my way out of here, knowing my great speaking abilities.

I was hoping for a laugh, or even a small chuckle that was barely audible. Any noise that seemed warm would be a good sign. He didn't even snort. All he said was, "You must have a lot of enemies."

I sighed loud enough for him to hear. Whoever this guy was, probably beast-like because his voice was super deep and I've learned my lesson that if the guy has a husky voice he's probably a giant, wasn't going to be lenient towards me. There was no way that he would help me in my escape. He was probably just as brainwashed as the rest of these people.

So, figuring that it was no use to annoy him with my lovely voice, I scooted my back to the disgusting wall, well aware that my body was so filthy that it practically matched the smell of the place, and just sat there with my arms crossed.

My stomach then growled. What they were doing seemed kind of stupid. They wouldn't keep me in here forever. They couldn't. I'm not sure how much they know about what's been going on with me and Cat, but they should be aware that the police are looking for me. There's only so many places that a girl like me can hide. They'd also be looking for Beck.

Beck.

"Shit," I whispered while slapping my head. I totally forgot about him! I wasn't sure how long I was sleeping this time around, but he should still be here. And if he wasn't, he should be looking for me.

My fingers pushed their way through the pocket in my pants where I normally had my phone. My heart jumped into my throat when I didn't feel the familiar smooth surface of my cell. Crap. Did they take it? Did they search me and take my phone? I thought they were just gangster bullies, not thieves!

I checked the pocket deeply, as if shoving my fingers deeper into my pocket would find some portal that leads to the device. My heart started to race even faster when I came up with nothing. I quickly took out my hand and tried the other pocket. Maybe I put it in this one. Nope.

By then I realized I was really screwed. I was still fumbling around in my pocket when it touched something. It wasn't a hard metallic like I expected, but was instead a soft material that could easily be forgotten.

What I pulled out was the picture that seemed to cling onto me wherever I went.

If they did search my body, why didn't they take this too? Were they trying to torture my heart? Or maybe this is like a last meal to me, except it was more like a last meal for my emotions. This was all they would give me of Cat.

I felt like I was realizing how these people worked. They weren't just cunning when it came to scoping out their victims; they also knew how they worked on the inside as well. This gang, which I figured should be called the "assholes from hell", or maybe the AFH, is probably the most intelligent torturers that have been created since Al Capone. They knew the clockwork on the inside of the body, so not only could they beat the outside, but they could pummel directly at the heart. I guess I was just easy picking for them since my kryptonite was practically right in the palm of their hands.

For some reason it makes me so angry how I worked up my entire life to be the toughest I could be, and yet here I am, in a freakin' smelly piss hole with absolutely no escape. They were able to take the one thing that I would die for.

Some people say that God is an almighty being that can make anything and everything happen. That's why we would pray to him, hoping that he would hear our pleas and answer them. I never prayed to this "God". Not once in my life had I ever prayed to him. If He supposedly gave Cat to me, if He was the reason why I was so happy because of that one girl, then why the hell did He take her away in the cruelest possible form! What kind of God is that?

"Argh!" My mind was so frustrated with how this all turned out that I kicked the wall adjacent to me. I kicked it so hard that the vibrations from the wall ran up my leg and caused me to clench my teeth in pain.

Along with the vibes came a nice rock to my face.

"Hey! You don't have to fucking throw rocks at me!" I yelled. I was sick of all of this! I wasn't even doing anything and he decided to throw a rock the size of a cell phone at my face! "I didn't throw nothing at you. Now shut your trap before I come in there and actually cause some damage!"

His words stunned me. I wasn't imaging it, was I? Did they drug me or something?

I rubbed the spot on my cheek that I believed that I was hit and felt tingles of pain shock my nerves.

I was definitely hit, but by what?

Searching the floor, even though I had to squint because of the lighting, I found the only other object in this place that probably was the problem. It was a black object that didn't seem like a giant bug, but you never know. It could sprout legs and start flying at any second.

Carefully I went over to it. This place, even if they didn't drug me, was starting to get my nerves going. What if it was a giant bug?

I kicked the object with my boot and it didn't move. I figured it was safe so I bent over to it and picked it up. Only then did I realize that the feel of the object was so comfortable and familiar.

"My cell!" I smiled instinctively when I realized that I actually did have the thing on me. But where did it come from? It ricocheted from somewhere; it had to because it did leave some damage.

"What did you say?" the guy yelled.

"I said 'this is hell!'" I answered, hoping that he would leave me alone and not realize that I had a way of help now.

What really creeped me out was the fact that this time, he laughed at my statement.

"Oh, you think this is hell? Just wait until Delta get's back."

I just shook my head in annoyance. Delta can wait. I finally had a plan again.

But it did gnaw at my brain about the fact that searching both my pockets came up with nothing.

I went back to the corner that I was previously sitting, no longer caring about the idiot outside my jail cell. I was sitting here, thinking very violent thoughts, and then I got angry and kicked the wall.

I kicked the wall…and then I got hit in the head.

My eyes went straight to my boot. I do remember that a couple of times, I used my combat boots as a placeholder for my phone when I was wearing skirts that had no pockets. There was definitely enough room for the thing to be smug in there. It also seemed very logical that that was where the phone was hidden, and when I kicked the wall, it caused the phone to fly out. I do have pretty strong kicks if I do say so myself.

But I guess the question was, who put it there? I clearly remember putting it in my right pocket before I sprinted away from the front of the building.

Curse myself for being such a sound sleeper!

A loud noise of a door closing broke me out of my thoughts. Maybe I was going to have visitors?...Or maybe they were executioners.

I unconsciously gulped and then mentally slapped myself for doing so. I wasn't dead meat yet.

"Ah, there you are!" my guard spoke in a happy way. Sure, he would be excited about a friend of his but he didn't even want my company? What bad taste in people.

"Haha yup. Delta sure had me on some trip. This one guy thought he could get away with jacking a few pills from Emily when she wasn't paying attention. Let's just say that he will no longer be having use of a couple of his limbs."

My eyes widened at his words. This is what they did for fun?

"Ooo. Which ones?"

"Oh you know: the right leg, left hand, his jaw, and maybe the guy's wiener as well. I'm glad that there's one person on this planet that won't reproduce."

They both guffawed so loudly that the place practically shook.

If that is what happens to thieves…what were they going to do to me?

I forced myself to get away from that thought and tried to think back to my plan. I still had Beck. I wasn't going to end up with a messed up body.

I looked at my phone again and turned on the screen. There were about 50 messages in my inbox. All of them were from Beck wondering about me. At least he was smart enough not to call because who knew if someone was holding my feet and felt a vibration coming from it. That would've been an awkward situation.

But they were all…interesting. This is just a few.:

**[5:16 p.m] Jade, it's been 10 minutes, what's going on with you?**

**[5:27 p.m] Jade? I haven't found her yet. Would you please answer me?**

**[5:36 p.m] Come on, Jade. This was your plan. You need to answer these texts!**

**[5:50 p.m] I'm getting worried… Please respond.**

**[6:00 p.m] If you're doing this just to tease me, this is the wrong time to do it! Answer!**

**[6:30 p.m] Okay, now I'm pretty sure that something is wrong… Please text back to say that this is all a joke. **

**[7:00 p.m] I still haven't seen anything that would remind me of Cat. A couple of people have been through the place but there are so many hiding spots that I'm pretty sure I'll never get caught. It's like they don't even think that anyone would be dumb enough to try this. Text back when you can. **

**[7:15 p.m] I'm not giving up on the idea of you being…out of commission just yet. I'm thinking that you found something that may lead you towards Cat. You're right, this place is huge. And loud. Maybe you forgot to check your phone. Maybe it even died. If you charge it, then I'll just let you know what I've been up to. Text back as soon as possible. **

**[8:00 p.m] Still no sign of Cat. But there are some weird things going on in this place. I think I passed by a torture room. This is one place that I think would even give you nightmares, Jade. It's a good thing I'm not scared of anything, right? **

**[8:24 p.m] I just passed the kitchen. This place is so stocked with food that it could feed an entire country in Africa! I hope you were able to get some food. If you really need to find the place, its about 20 rooms from the front of the building, right side.**

**[9:45 p.m] I think I finally discovered something interesting and helpful. I was hiding behind some crates, and who the hell knows what they have in this place, but it was a pretty good hiding spot. So I was overhearing some people talking. One of them was a girl, and the other was a guy. The girl was talking a lot so I figured that she was in charge. I also heard the guy call her 'Delta'. That was the girl you're scared of, right? I can tell why now. Her voice…it feels like it just cuts through people, like it can be so controlling yet mesmerizing at the same time. Gave me chills. But they were talking about something, saying that they finally captured their 'enemy'? Is that you, Jade? She was describing someone with black hair and blue highlights, looks tough but can be knocked out easily? Not trying to make a joke, but that really did sound like you. Well, I guess now I know what happened to you. I just hope that you still have your phone on you. If it is, I found something else while listening to them. It's their…plans for you. Originally, they just wanted you to leave and never come back. But now…they're planning on making your life miserable, Jade. They're going to hand you over to the cops after they've distorted some of the things that happened before with your dad and your step mom. They're going to try to break you down first, make you beg and plead somehow, in some way. I don't know what way, though. They want to torture you and then set you up for the crime of murder. You have to find this soon. You need to somehow get yourself out of this situation. Text me as soon as possible, please, I am begging you. I need to know where you are so I can help. They haven't caught me yet in the many hours I've been here. But, I just want you to know Jade that I love you. Stay strong. **

**[12:03 p.m] I found a room where I believe no one has touched it since the late '50s. It seems like a good place to rest. If you escape and can find me, I'm at the back of the building, still on the right side. There's a window in here that shows a rotting old Macy's building so if you get lost, that's the right way to go. I believe what was on the door was some graffiti saying 'This is life', but I'm not sure. But that's my location. I think I'm going to be in here a while…more people have been crossing my path and it's starting to get dangerous. Once again, text me. I need to know that you're okay.**

And that was the last text that he sent to me. I reread all 50 of those over and over again because my wardens were only talking to each other about stuff that I couldn't even wrap my mind around. But everything that Beck said scared me. It scared me worse than…Sikowitz jumping out of a pool half naked. They were going to ruin my life…all because I wanted Cat. And Cat wanted me.

I didn't even stop myself as the tears hit my hands. I didn't care that I was showing emotions of sadness anymore. Really…my life got so effed up in only a few months. Normal people take years to have themselves screwed over, and my life was going to be ended before it even started.

Screw everyone who laughs at those who cry. Someone once told me that crying, since birth, is a sign that we're alive. I honestly felt dead.

"Hey! Quit your moping. The judge of your life is here."

I looked up to see a man, with the voice that was being a bitch earlier, at the edge of my cell. He was looking at me with the worst anger I've ever seen in anyone. I know that people have made me their enemy in so many different ways, but it was as if I killed this guy's mother. He seemed like he hated me that much.

We made eye contact for only a second, and he whipped his body around in disgust and walked away.

As soon as he was out of sight, I quickly went back to my phone that I had hidden when the guy was around. I looked at it to see that it was nine in the morning of the next day. At least I wasn't out for a week or something. My body was tired, but adrenaline was pumping through me at these new events.

I clicked on a random text from Beck and pressed 'reply'. I didn't even wait for it to load before I started typing.

"**Beck, I'm alive and well. Well…not exactly 'well' but I'm alive. I'm sorry I couldn't text you back. I didn't even feel my phone buzz the first couple of messages and I had a…run in with some of these people. They knocked me out, using electricity. Such unfair players. But anyways, I don't know where I am but I must still be in the warehouse. They have me locked up, but I'm pretty sure that they're going to be taking me out of here sometime soon. Maybe sooner than I think. Text me back when you get this. I'm afraid of you leaving your safe bunk. If what you told me is true, then you really should get out of here ASAP, but, knowing you, you'll try to rescue me first. Thanks. I'm not sure what is going to happen to me…but I did find Cat. Unfortunately, I lost her again. She is fine, though. She's as healthy as ever, but they got her caught in her own trap. They're controlling her, not yet with pills, but who knows how soon they'll mess up her mind. Don't try to call me just yet. We need to both find safe timing…and make a plan. And by the way, I love you too. ~Jade**

I quickly pressed sent, hoping that autocorrect did it's job with how many mess ups I made because I was typing really fast. Even in all of this crap, I secretly felt a bit of happiness knowing that Beck and I had the only phones who's batteries actually lasted a long time.

As soon as the message popped up saying "message sent", I shoved the phone back down in my boot. If they didn't find it before, then they weren't going to find it again.

It was really awesome timing because not a second later did the door loudly open with a sound that reminded me of a dying panda bear.

"You! Stand up!"

"I have a name," I said quickly, even though I regretted it as soon as it came out of my big trap.

The guy didn't even hesitate to walk over to me, yank me up from my seated position, and slap me across the face. It burned terribly. It hurt worse than before when my father had slapped me. This guy obviously worked out, and while my dad was a wimp, this man had power to his punch. I believe he left it bruised.

"In here your name doesn't matter." His head was leaned closed to mine so that his words were literally spitting into my ear. Even when I backed away, he just leaned closer to give me his version of a Wet Willy. "In fact, I'll give you a new name. How does 'terrorist' sound to you? Or maybe 'slave'? Those two would fit nicely."

This time, I made an effort to keep quiet. Words wouldn't do me any good.

"Seems like I got you trained, dog. Next, I'm going to get you fixed."

My heartbeat sped up with his words and I could just feel his body heat warming mine up. I couldn't escape this one trap. He was still grabbing onto me so roughly that there would be bruises to match the ones on my face.

"Where's Cat?" I asked as loud as I could project even though my voice felt tiny. This man was the size of a gorilla and made me feel the size of a mouse. His words made me feel even smaller. There weren't even many options for me, and I wasn't going to just lie down and die yet. I figured that if I tried to even get him to hear me, see that I care as much as everyone else here seems to, they might finally understand that I'd rather work with them, not fight to the death. I'm pretty sure that this guy would rather beat me up.

"Oh, you'll see her real soon." He smiled at me with a grin that gave me chills. His teeth were yellowed and bent in all directions. He probably didn't know the definition of a dentist.

But his words made my mind going. I was gonna see her soon? Not even my mind could make up any answers.

I felt my body drag against the floor. This guy was pulling me out of the room, but I didn't really try to stop him, not like I could. There was no way that I could fight out of his grip, but something did tell me that I was finally going to meet the head honcho herself. It was about time Delta and I saw eye to eye. Maybe I could get in a good punch or two before they torture me…as Beck had said. At least that would satisfy me until I could rescue Cat.

At least I still had that picture of Cat…because if I lost everything else, that one memory would be enough to make me smile. At least for a one second in time.

I knew that I was up against an omnipotent power. It was basically me against all of them because Beck was in a sanctuary that, with my luck, was about a mile away from here. But I took a big breath, and when the guy that was holding me shoved me into the room, I didn't let anything push down my shoulders as I strode into the room with confidence.

I looked around the area that I was put into. My warden was standing by a door, one of two, obviously acting as a guard so I wouldn't escape. The other door led to a room that I could clearly see through a glass window. There were two figures in there; one that I saw immediately as Delta. Her blonde hair caught my attention fast and my body went rigid. My mind also froze up. This one girl scared me shitless…

But then the other figure caused my body to both calm and tense. I saw her just hours ago, and even though my warden said that I would see her again, I didn't believe it. But there she was, standing right next to Delta. Whatever they had planned for me, I knew it had to do with Cat. I figured it out earlier that they were going to use her to get to me emotionally, and it would take an iron heart to make their plan not work.

I couldn't help but watch them, though. I was standing in that one spot just staring at the two of them. It seemed like they were having a conversation.

Delta was edging close to Cat, and Cat stepped back a bit, but small enough so that Delta wouldn't notice. The blonde was offering my girl something, and I figured it was a pill. Cat shook her head but Delta urged again. Cat said something, I saw her lips moving, and Delta shrugged and said something back. I knew that Delta was trying hard not to get impatient with Cat. Cat had to be turning down the offer of pills. I knew that I had gotten to her about them. I smiled inside.

But then, Delta stepped closer to Cat, faster than Cat could step back.

And what I saw next made my heart die.

Delta leaned in to kiss my redhead.

…I didn't even feel the pain as I ran straight into the glass that separated us.


	20. What Happens in the Family

**Disclaimer: Victorious is a show that I do not own. If I ever did, then it would be shown. I've said all I could, I can't but I would, Victorious isn't mine to clone. Yeah... limericks for the win.**

**A/N:...I talk too much. By the way, the song is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne. K thanks.**

15 Hours Ago

Cat POV

It was scary how some people reacted to things. I was once told that I scared someone because I got hurt really bad and wasn't showing any signs of pain. In fact, I just laughed, even though I broke a bone or two. The same could be said for what just happened. Delta wasn't projecting anything that would say that she was hurt or angry, but we all knew that she wasn't emotionless. It was terrifying.

I wasn't even sure what to do. I really thought that if I did anything, I may be putting the last straw on Delta's back which would cause her to erupt. I didn't want to see her explode because if she did, I'm pretty sure that it would mean the end of Jade.

My hands were clenched together despite the fact that I was still shivering from being wet because of the rain. A towel was draped over my back, but I didn't think that it did much to warm me up. But the floor was warm. I appreciated that it was velvety carpeting.

I didn't dare look up at anyone, though. It seemed like it was my fault that the plan was a failure. I wasn't convincing enough for Jade, and I should have expected her to do something like that. Some actress I was…I couldn't even be angry enough to make someone go away. And now, I made everyone upset; me, Delta, and especially Jade. She probably wasn't too happy to be shocked…and now she's in the smelly cell that we normally keep our dogs in. That place hasn't been washed for years.

"That bitch has some nerve, defying us," I heard Kev speak. My eyes never hovered away from the carpeting. The redness of it reminded me of my hair, and it was comforting.

"It was like she knew what we were up to, but ignored it," Dayton, a skinny geek who was addicted to the navy pill answered Kev's statement. Dayton came from a family who always ignored him because he was stupid, stupider than me. He saw Kev one day in an alleyway and confronted him because his stupidity clouded his mind from the danger that Kev was. When he learned that there was a pill that would make him seem smart, the navy pill, he quickly jumped at the idea. How he was able to manipulate Kev, I don't think I'll ever really know. All I was certain was that I hated Dayton because the pill didn't make him smart at all. It only gave him cockiness and confidence. He was so stuck up that pretty much no one except Kev would even want to be in the same room as him. I hated him more than Rex.

But we're all addicted to one certain pill. I was the pink one, Dayton was the navy one, Kev was the red one, and Mark was black one. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know which pill Delta was addicted to. I wasn't even sure if she was taking any at all.

"She couldn't have known anything," Kev continued. "We all saw how Cat was acting, and I'll admit that was a pretty good show, girl."

I know that Kev was looking at me with a smile on his face. I knew that he liked me. Not in _that_ way, but in the way that I'm like a sister to him. Almost everyone here did like me. But, the smile didn't make me feel any better, even though I never even looked at him. I was the reason why Jade knew that she was being watched. I just wanted her to know why I was pushing her away. I never wanted her to push back.

"She's was only being a smartass. Don't underestimate that girl's mind. It's very intelligent and cunning. What I mean by that is that this Jade person is street smart as well as book smart."

It was the first time that Delta spoke since the incident. The action was so shocking that everyone looked her way, including me. My hands started shaking immediately after I heard the sound of her voice. It was menacing and bold, yet her face still didn't show anything other than boredom.

We were all waiting for her to say something else. It was either that or someone else comment on her words, which no one wanted to do. It was as if Delta was spreading an aura that told all of us that she was ready to whip out at anyone, and no one wanted to be the victim.

As if she heard my thoughts, the icy blue eyes of hers looked at me. Her eyes were reading me over; trying to see what was going on in my mind. I knew that I haven't said a word either since I messed up. I think that Delta knew that I pointed the camera out to Jade. That only made me shake worse.

Delta stood up from the chair that she had been sitting in and walked slowly over to a closet that had been in the room. She opened it up and pulled out a bundle of fabric, then closed the door and strode her way over to me. Everyone was just watching her.

Each step that she took, my heart beat faster in fear. She was going to explode one way or another, and I didn't want her attention focused on me when she did. I never liked being called on when I didn't have an answer in school and the teacher was mad that no one raised their hand, and I didn't like being singled out here.

But I knew that one of us would have to claim her thoughts one way or another. I guess it was logical that it would be me…since she had a different heart for me.

"I am surprised at your acting abilities, Cat," Delta told me, but made it loud enough for everyone to hear. She approached me and knelt down, taking the fabric in both of her hands and shaking it out beside her so that it would become undone and no longer be folded. It was a wool blanket, heavier than the towel that was covering me. Delta then led the blanket around me and brought both ends to my stomach.

"I didn't know that the school that we allowed you to attend had any use, but I guess you proved me wrong. Unfortunately, it did too much good for that supposed friend that you brought to us. We should all be aware that she is smarter than we intended."

At the word 'smarter', Delta tugged at the blanket that was still in her clutches, causing me to be squeezed by the fabric. I knew by then that Delta was aware of my act of disobedience.

The blonde stood up from her spot, but didn't take her eyes off of me.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, dear Cat. She will be severely punished for her actions."

"You already have a punishment for her?" Kev asked quickly in excitement. Kev just loved suspense and torturing people. In fact, he was the one that was normally sent on jobs to people that needed to be dealt with. It's horrible the deeds that he finds fun. He dismantles people like they're dolls, ripping away bits and pieces knowing that they won't grow back. He finds the pain on their faces amusing. But he says that it's only worth it because it's justice. He likes to call himself Karma Kev. The name seems funny now, but you don't want to be his victim.

"Actually, I do. From what our Cat has told us before, Jade doesn't have many fears. Isn't that right, Cat?"

All eyes turned towards me again. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks, but it wasn't because of the publicity, it was because I do recall telling Delta that. It was after the Halloween Haunted House where Jade and I first kissed. I was so excited about things, but I was very sad that Jade was in the hospital. She still hadn't woken up. So, I was with Delta and I was talking about her and how great she was and how she had no fears at all. I thought that Delta believed Jade was cool, but I guess that I was wrong. Delta wasn't at all okay with me and Jade. I also lied to Jade. I told her that I told my family that we were together. I only did that so that she would be comfortable with the idea. I never told them…because _I_ wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. Even though it was all I ever dreamed about, it all seemed too good to be true.

But it was most definitely realer than what Delta was trying to force me to do.

I think that everyone else thought that I was still surprised from the event earlier because I still didn't say a thing.

"It's alright to be scared about what that girl did," Delta filled the empty conversation. She was still standing before me, but slightly turned her body so that it was directed at the other people in room. It was just me, Delta, Kev, Dayton, this other girl named Margie and two other guys who were new to the family, so I hadn't learned their names yet. Mark was by the cell that Jade was in and everyone else was either in their quarters or had a job to do. I overheard Delta command Mark to watch over Jade before we were all brought inside. The way Mark carried Jade back in wasn't very kind. He threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and kept walking. It made me want to cry at how Jade was being treated, so I allowed myself a few tears because the rain hid them.

Delta continued speaking, now addressing the rest of the room. "If Cat weren't stunned from all of this, she would agree that Jade is fearless, except for one thing. We all saw at how the beginning of all of this, Jade almost seemed crushed at Cat's words. But somehow, Jade knew that it was all being watched and had been planned, no matter how true the words were."

Delta looked over at me once again but her eyes only landed on me for a second or two before looking back at the others.

"We just have to reach that breaking point again, and crash through it. Once we do that, she won't ever be able to recuperate, and then we'll continue with destroying the rest of her life."

"How are we gonna do that?" Dayton raised his hand to ask. The physical action caused a little anger to rise in me. Just because he rose his hand did not mean that he was smart. He was just as stupid as he was when he met Kev. Just like Rex was just a stupid puppet. There were no brains in either of them.

Delta smiled at Dayton, and it was the first emotion that she showed since forever. The emotion wasn't happy at all, even though she was smiling. The grin was sinister.

"I'll talk to you later after we get all of this set up. I'm going to need your mind for this one," she said to him, still with the scary smile. I narrowed my eyes at her choice of words, but I knew that she used them so that Dayton would feel proud of himself and do whatever bidding that she wanted. The pills still clogged his mind, but they didn't clog mine.

Delta then spoke to me, "Hey, Cat? How about you go and see how Mark is doing. I'm sure that he's hungry, and you've been sitting there all cold and shaking for a while now. Some exercise might warm you up."

I only looked at her. She had to be sending me away for a reason, but this would mean that I would be almost in the same room as Jade. I probably could get Mark to open the door for me, too.

That little bit of hope made me nod my head, and I slowly got up from the floor. I was sitting there for a long time, so my entire body was cramped up because I didn't move my position the entire time I was out of it.

I took the blanket with me as I exited the room. I knew that everyone was looking at me, especially Delta. I was afraid of what she had in store for my future.

But I forced myself not to think about it too much. I closed the door as soon as I was able to get all of the blanket out of the doorway, but before the door shut, I heard Delta say, "Okay, I have a job for you, Kev."

And then the door shut tight, blocking all sounds from me.

* * *

><p>"<em>You're not alone…Together we stand…I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand."<em>

The words echoed the empty hallway as I was slowly making my way to Jade. Singing always calmed me, even in the worst of times. I may not have been a very good actress…but I knew that I could sing.

"_When it gets cold, and it feels like the end. There's no place to go. You know I won't give in…No I won't give in…"_

I may not have wanted to talk to anyone here, my family, but no one was around, and for once during this entire thing, I could be myself.

"_Keep holding on…'cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through…"_

This is one song that I know that has true meaning to it's words…and a part inside me knew that Jade could hear my singing.

"_Just stay strong…'cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you…"_

I could just imagine Jade singing along with me, as if we were in Karaoke Dokie and we both proved that we could knock anyone out. Just from that, I knew that we were right for each other, in some way or another. She was just so stunning and confident then…I hope that hasn't left her.

"_There's nothing you can say…Nothing you can do…There's no other way when it comes to the truth…"_

I just had to get her out of here, somehow. There must be a way. I caused all of this damage to her and I knew that the best thing for her would be to just escape it all without me. If I could just take the blame…I would, in a heartbeat.

"_So keep holding on…'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through…"_

I ended that note mournfully, tears already threatening to escape down my cheeks. I didn't know it, but I was standing right outside the doorway from where Mark was sitting, guarding where Jade should be. His dark brown eyes glimpsed at me in a threatening way, but eased significantly when he saw that it was only me.

"I thought I heard some great singing," his husky voice commented with a grin. My own nerves calmed a bit at his warmth. "You were practically lulling me to sleep with that angelic voice of yours. You shouldn't make me match my prisoner, Cat. That's not good for my rep."

His smile broadened at his joke, hoping that he would give me a laugh. Mark always tried to be nice to me because at first, I was so intimidated by his size that I always hid from him. Now, the only thing he wants is for me to smile, and I always do, whether or not his jokes are funny…which is normally not.

This time was no different as I forced my lips to curve upwards. Mark couldn't read expressions nearly as well as Delta, so he didn't see that inside I was a mess.

"So what are you doing here?"

I tried speaking some words but I realized that I hadn't used my voice in hours so the noises I made were so quiet that Mark barely heard a thing. He cocked his head in uncertainty and I coughed to try to make my words work again.

"Delta…Delta sent me to see how you were doing, and also to give you some food."

I outstretched my hands to him before I realized that I had actually forgotten to get the food that I was supposed to get. It didn't take very long for Mark to realize that and he laughed so hard at my air headedness that it scared me a little.

"I can see that a lot is on your mind," he commented after he calmed down, wiping a tear from his eye. "It's alright, though. I needed to get myself walking anyways, so I'll go get some food myself if you stay here for me. I'm pretty sure that she won't wake up anytime soon. Kev really had the voltage up when he stunned her."

I gave him a lopsided grin because I really didn't know how to react. Just the words sent my mind back to the past where I had to relive Jade being shocked. It wasn't pretty at all. Her entire body had one large seizure and I thought it was going to rip her apart.

My voice didn't even need words anyways because not a second later, my stomach roared. It didn't growl; it seriously made a noise that reminded me of a lion. A second to think made me realize that I hadn't even eaten for over twelve hours. But this only made Mark laugh again.

"I'll get you some food, too. Don't you worry. I'll make sure I bring back something nice for you."

"Kaykay…" I murmured. Mark walked closer to me to mess up my hair and he walked out of the room with a large smile on his face. It was so different how things were now that everything changed. I probably would be giggling a mile a minute had I still been on the pink pill. This place, which I used to think was so colorful and pretty, was now dull and damp and dark and scary. All of these people whom I used to look up to now had a completely different vision. They weren't all kind and thoughtful. They were messed up…like me.

It finally took me all of this time to realize that Jade was right. The pills weren't doing me any good. All they did was hide me from the truth of things, and I became addicted to that. This wasn't like the time my brother made me have an overdose of chocolate at all…at least that was what he called it. I owed it to Jade to get her out of this mess…so much. I felt so bad for putting her in this situation.

I looked towards the door that Mark had been guarding. It was solid steel with a barred window to look in from. Whatever was supposed to be in there before we took over must've been extremely important.

My heart ached for Jade as I peered in through the window. I swear it jumped out of my throat as I saw her crumpled body on the floor, her expression scrunched up as if she was having a nightmare. I wanted so badly to go in there and take her away and cuddle her close to me because she needed someone to love her and I wanted so badly to be that someone.

I wanted to just steal her away from this place. I never wanted her to end up here, but I guess it couldn't be helped.

The door made a rusty groan as my hands opened it. I didn't even know that I did that action until it was wide open and I was only a few feet from the sleeping girl. She looked so beautiful, but so worried. A tear escaped from my eye and I felt it slowly make its way down my cheek. I doubt that Jade would be caught crying, even here. She would never cry. She's so tough.

My feet slowly made soft steps towards her. My eyes couldn't resist the urge to stare at the person that I loved. I didn't know when the next time I would see her would be. I didn't even know if this was the last time I would see her lovely face, sleek body, alluring brown hair with the rebellious streaks of blue that cascaded over her shoulder. The events of today were wearing me down, and I wanted to curl up against this girl and sleep with her, not even caring if we were caught. I didn't want to be anywhere else but with Jade.

Something deep down in my gut told me not to. I never knew between right and wrong, or left or right, but something in me just kept gnawing at my brain for me not to do anything stupid right now. It told me that we were both still in danger.

My eyes quickly looked at the door from which I came to check for Mark, and I breathed out a sigh when I saw that there was still no sign of him. The storage room wasn't that far from here, and I figured that I didn't have much time left to enjoy these few moments with Jade.

I looked away from the doorway to look back at Jade and I kneeled before her. My fingers couldn't help but touch her flushed cheek and remember how smooth they were. They softly glided along her skin, around her chin, over her lips which I tried to recall the memory of how they felt against my own. I heat rose to my cheeks as I looked back at the event that caused her to be here in the first place. It was a daring move…but I was glad that she did it.

I then took both of my hands to go through the strands of her hair. They were still sleek, even after everything we've been though, with just a few knots as my fingers made their way down the locks and loosened up some rowdy bunches.

I took a moment to just stare at her. She didn't know that I was doing any of this at all. I wish that she was awake, just like she was awake when I visited her in the hospital. It would've been the best surprise in the world. I wanted her to know that I was here, with her, and I would always try to be.

I wanted her to know that she wasn't alone.

And even though there was a large chance that she wouldn't feel it, I bent down to lightly kiss her sweet lips. It would keep me going for a while, and she may feel it in her dreams.

Unconsciously, my hands retreated from Jade's locks and felt down her body, over her arms, her torso, and then down the sides of her legs. I wanted to remember how Jade felt, all of her. I never wanted to forget, even if I never saw her again.

My hands stopped when I felt a bulge at Jade's side. That surprise made me lean away from her to look at my discovery. Right in her pocket was something, and the curiosity got to me. I carefully picked out the object to find that it was Jade's cell phone. My fingers flipped it open and the screen lit up, showing me that Jade had gotten a few messages from Beck. One had asked her where she was and another said that he hadn't found me.

Wait.

Was Beck here looking for me too?

_Slam!_

"Hey Cat! I got something you might like. Ramen a la Chicken Seasoning. We needed to get this stuff eaten anyways, and I don't think you've tried this one yet!"

Mark's voice echoed through the hallway. He wasn't quite at the room yet, but I still was running out of time. I looked at Jade's phone and tried to think of something. I needed to be logical about this, just like Jade. My family probably wouldn't like it if they found Jade's phone and then knew that Beck was probably here too. Why would he even be here in the first place…and when did they even meet up? Were there more people?

I shook my head. This wasn't thinking straight. I was running out of time.

My head whipped around everywhere to find somewhere that Jade would be able to find the phone and other people wouldn't. My eyes didn't find any hiding place, until it reached Jade's boots.

"Perfect!" I ecstatically whispered. Jade's cunningness was wearing off on me, I just knew it! They wouldn't search her boot, and it's normally snug tight on her foot with just enough room for her cell. It was the best idea I could ever come up with.

Without a second to lose, I shoved Jade's phone in her boot, took one last look at the amazing girl, and ran out of the room while trying to close the door as soundless as possible.

It was only a few moments later that Mark walked in with two bowls of soup in his hands.

"I made this myself, little Cat. I hope you like it." He then winked at me.

I took the bowl while trying to look as grateful as I could, even though it was hard. I was much rather grateful for being able to see Jade once again, but worry filled my mind as I thought of Beck being in here too. It was one thing to have to save Jade from Delta's wrath. It was something completely different if she ever found out that Beck was also here. That was something that nobody ever thought would happen.

* * *

><p>"Wakey, wakey, Cat. The sun is here to say 'Hello'."<p>

The sound was so alluring in my ear. I smiled. I knew it was Jade.

I felt hands run down my back as Jade tried to wake me up. The motion was a bit rough, but I allowed it, knowing that Jade can be impatient.

"I know you want breaky, Cat, before the big event happens."

That made me snap my eyes open. Jade never uses baby words with me. It wasn't Jade.

"Come on, baby. I know you want to sleep but you can't."

The hands held onto my side and rolled me over. My eyes weren't looking into the blue/green orbs of Jade at all. Instead, they were staring right into the icy blues of Delta's. She saw me recognize her in my eyes and smiled at me. I was too stunned to force myself to smile back.

"I woke you up from a strong dream, didn't I?" Delta frowned when I didn't smile at her and one of her hands stroked my cheek while the other held onto my hip. She had lifted herself onto the bed that I was sleeping in and was now hovering over me, both legs on either side of my body.

I looked around to try to remember what was going on. I guess I fell asleep after eating the Ramen that Mark had given me and he carried me to bed. Then Delta woke me up for something big. What could it be?

"Yeah," I choked out. I actually didn't even think I had a dream.

"What was it about?" Delta prodded. I wondered if she knew that I was lying about the dream.

"You."

That made Delta smile again, wider than before. I knew that I still had to pretend that I was into her, for Jade. Doing anything otherwise would make Delta mad again, and she couldn't be mad. I think that Delta even knew that I was faking, but she had me where she wanted me. There wasn't much that I could try because I was in her clutches whether I liked it or not. I guess that I would also be wrapped around her fingers because Delta wouldn't kill Jade. Delta would only make Jade's life miserable, and everyone's life could always be worse. Delta could always threaten me over and over again with Jade if I ever got out of line. I truly was trapped.

The thought made me gulp, but Delta didn't notice it.

"Hmm…" Delta purred. "What happened in the dream?"

"I, uh, don't really remember. I only know that I saw your face and it uh…made me happy."

"In what way?" Delta asked quietly after bending her head towards my ear. I didn't say a response because I wasn't sure what Delta meant. How many definitions of happy were there?

"Ooh. _That_ way." Delta seemed to make a response for herself. I then felt something nibble my earlobe and I realized that it was the blonde grazing my ear with her teeth. My body turned into stone.

"I didn't know you were even like that, Cat. And without the red pill, too."

The grazing stopped but was replaced by kisses underneath my ear, making a trail down my neck. The felt something tugging on my shirt, and I just knew that it was Delta's hand.

"I, uh-"

"You don't have to put up a civilized front, Hun. It's just us two," she said between kisses. The hand that was previously just playing around with the edge of my top then went under to feel my skin. The touch made me clam up and I just wanted to kick the girl away. I didn't want anyone to touch me this way, let alone Delta.

But I had no say as the girl's hands continued their search. I wanted to cry at the exposure. This was exactly what I had tried to run away from; the powerlessness, the fear, the despair. I tried my best to hold it in, but one tear drop found it's way out of my system.

And that was when Delta found my zipper.

I didn't notice that one of her hands had left my shirt to explore down below. Delta easily noticed my surprise and she looked at me, and I looked at her. What I found sent nerves running through me. Her eyes held lust.

I'm not sure what Delta found in my eyes, but whatever it was, it only made her more confident and aggressive.

Before I knew it, my top was forced off of my body and my pants were being dragged down my legs. Delta's lips were all over my body, kissing every inch of skin they could, and I couldn't move because she pinned me down with her entire being. One of her hands had already unsnapped my bra and took it off of me. It started to rub me and the normal senses of pleasure shot through my mind. But this wasn't good pleasure, and it only brought more tears to my eyes. It felt like the night that I had first met this girl…but somehow, it seemed even worse.

The other hand was feeling over my skin by my waist. It touched my stomach, my hip, my thigh, inside my thigh…

"Please," I squeaked before any of it could continue. "I don't really want to do this."

The girl stopped everything that she was doing and lifted her eyes off of my body to look straight at me. Her stare turned instantly cold instead of filled with the lust that it had before, and that scared me worse.

"Why, love? Didn't you want this?" she questioned me, her tone not necessarily on edge but close enough for me to know that one wrong move would send me somewhere bad.

I knew that she was setting a trap. I've hung around Jade enough to know what that looks like. If I said no, then she'd be able to say something about Jade that would make me feel bad. If I said yes, then she would continue. Jade normally did the same thing. She had a great way with words, just like Delta. It's what normally made people fear her, but I was never afraid because I knew that Jade only made those word traps when she felt threatened, and I never threatened her. Do I threaten Delta?

"I do…" I started quietly. "But I'm so hungry…and I want to know what the big thing was today."

The blue eyes continued to stare at me quizzically, so I kept talking to make sure that Delta didn't twist what I was saying.

"And I think it'd be more romantic if we did it later. We could…we could use the red pills and stuff and make it even more fantastic."

I forced whatever words I could come up with out of my mouth just so I could have something implanted in Delta's head. She was no longer easy to talk to as Mr. Giraffe had been. I don't even have Mr. Giraffe here…

But it seemed to do the trick, Mr. Giraffe or not. Delta's eyes brightened at my words and finally she looked away to get off of me. I breathed a small sigh of relief. At least I was able to postpone this.

"Okay then. We'll wait until this evening. I promise that it'd be something worth celebrating."

As Delta was talking, I hurriedly pieced together back my clothing. If anything, I didn't want to be exposed to the girl. It just made me feel even more uncomfortable.

"I suppose our timing is good, too," Delta continued, looking at a clock on the wall. "I told Mark to bring our prisoner somewhere and I need to go meet up with her. But first, let's go get something to eat."

I just finished buttoning my pants when I felt the blonde yank my hand away from the material to force me onto my feet. She practically ran with my out of the room and down the long, cold corridors. While I was dragged, my mind finally processed through what Delta was saying before. Mark was bringing our prisoner somewhere, and the only prisoner that I was aware of was Jade. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that I was going to see her again, but I felt the happiness drop like a pancake falling on the floor when I pieced together that this shouldn't be a good thing. They were going to torture Jade.

"This isn't the food storage," I commented when Delta had pulled me into a large room with a bunch of crates.

"I know, but I have food already in here for us. I thought that we should be alone so we could catch up more. With all of this excitement going around, you and I haven't really talked much."

My nerves were jumping at the thoughts of having a lot of alone time with this girl.

"But what about with everyone else?" I tried. "I haven't been spending time with them either and I've missed everybody."

"We need to have our time together, and now that you're back, I don't want anyone being your favorite except for me."

She giggled and lightly pushed my shoulder. At least, it was lightly for her. I'm pretty sure she left a bruise.

Delta then looked around the room with a smile on her face. Her eyes focused in on a window that I couldn't see through, and then I realized what this room was for. This was a place where people would be supervised without anyone knowing. That window was a one-way mirror where anyone can see us but we can't see them. Maybe Delta wanted us to truly feel like we're alone, but why not stay in either of our rooms?

"One thing before I get our delicious breakfast," Delta noted before turning back to me, happy sparks electrified in her cold eyes. "I was hoping that you would give these a try again. The world has turned you cold, and I'd rather you be happy and carefree."

Delta reached into her pocket to pull out something that I didn't even need to see to know what it was. It was a small pink pill, the one practically made for me.

I shook my head out of reaction, not really thinking. Deep in my heart, I knew that I didn't want that life again. I could finally _see_ the world as it is instead of hiding behind a lie. The world is so much better with my feelings as they are, and when they're created by special events, special people, it feels more real than having them made by factory.

The blue eyed girl frowned at my motion and shoved her hand forward.

"Come on, Cat. This is what the entire family is based around. This life gives us useless emotions that only make us insignificant. You can fly again, Cat. Come back to us."

"I'm just…I'm not really feeling into doing this right now. I've been dizzy ever since the whole rain thing. I might throw it up."

It was true that I did feel like throwing up, but I was hoping that the excuse was good enough. Just like with Delta's desires, I was hoping to push this back until I was able to escape. Taking that pill would be an absolute contract for me being ditzy forever. There was no way that I was going back to that life.

"You're not feeling well?" Delta questioned. Her change in topic was weird, but I only nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well, perhaps this will make you feel better."

I expected it, and I tried to be as still as possible when Delta leaned her head towards mine and placed her lips upon my own. It wasn't good the first time, and it definitely wasn't getting any better. But if I wanted to keep up this show then I had to accept these moments until I can finally say no without anything bad happening.

What I didn't expect was to hear a loud crash.

I broke away so quickly from Delta that she almost fell backwards, and what I saw made me want to fall as well.

The two-way mirror was shattered, and the thing that shattered it was a person. But not just any person.

Cut and bruised and looking like she's been through hell, Jade had come to my rescue.


	21. Finally

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious or the characters of Jade and Cat. I can say with quite certainty that I do own a very weird Papier Mache of an Umbreon that I made with my own two hands. No, you can't have it.**

**A/N: So...Just a heads up, I may have been quicker with this update but I'm not sure how quick my next update will be. Don't like...want to throw water balloons filled with slime at me because I might be late or I might be right on time or something. Things are all hectic-y and as much as I wish that I could predict the future, I cannot. And in all honestly, this entire story has not been mapped out ever since the second chapter. In fact, I didn't even have the main plot of it until like, chapter 4 or something, and I still have no idea how I'm going to end this, but it will be ended, and I am going to stick to my word about that. But, I do want to say how grateful I am for each response that I have gotten for this story. I want to just tell everyone that they're freaking awesome, because you, right there, in that chair or bed or toilet reading this, are very awesome. Remember that. And also, although I am not a Star Wars nerd, May the 4th be with you!**

**Okay, enjoy :D**

Jade POV

My body continued to fall the great length and the air was forced out of my body. Tears that I didn't cry out were stinging my eyes and my hands were whipping around everywhere, thinking that there was something to hold on to when there clearly wasn't. I was expecting to crash land into cement and be immediately knocked out by the force, if I was lucky, but instead, my body slammed into a whole bunch of crate boxes that were filled with foam peanuts. The edges of the crates dug into my skin and caused more bruising, but I've never been so fucking happy to see foam peanuts. They honestly were just fun to squish into nothing, but I guess that they did have purpose after all.

"Ugh…" I groaned aloud. My body was as limp as a doll's, and I was so exhausted that I couldn't even open my eyes. The fall was definitely how I expected it. It took out the adrenaline that I had at the top of the fall. The scream probably caused the rest of it to be exerted.

"Jade!" I heard my name being called. I had enough sense to know that it was Cat, but I wasn't sure at all what was going to happen next. Delta should call her watch dogs soon enough to lock me up forever this time. I probably broke their most special glass.

"Cat, stay over here." That was Delta's voice this time. It was commanding and as forceful as I remembered. The mere sound of her cut into my skin and dug deep in my heart. If I wasn't so tired, I would have shuddered.

"Jade..!" I heard Cat yell again. I felt the wind of someone approaching but was too weak to actually look. My heart sped up thinking that it was Delta, ready to grab onto my arm and throw me away to some place where the sun didn't shine.

But I wasn't yanked away from my makeshift bed in the boxes. Instead, a soft hand touched my bruised cheek with such kindness that it could only be Cat. The touch caused pain, but the fact that it was from someone who wasn't out to kill me made it bearable.

"Cat…" I muttered weakly, making sure that she knew that I was still conscious. It probably would've been better not to be awake, but I knew that the third time that I would be knocked out may be the charm to make sure that I never woke up.

"I'm right here," she assured me in that high voice of hers.

"I'm so… freaking stupid," I choked out. A giggle escaped from Cat's lips, even though we were still in such a terrible place. Her sounds of happiness made me smile a little.

"Get away from her." Another voice interrupted us. Cat's hand was quickly taken away from my cheek and with that, all my happiness was taken away as well.

I heard some scuffling a few feet away from me. I forced my eyes to open, and it took so much strength to, but I did. My eyes were greeted with the lovely sight of Cat. She was bruised and cut, but probably not as bad as I was. Her brown eyes held anger, such a different emotion for her. I looked closer at what she was angry about and recognized Delta's blonde hair and cold eyes. Delta didn't look too pleased either.

"What- What are you doing, Cat? She is the enemy. The enemy!" The words were forced out of Delta's mouth, as if Delta couldn't believe that she had to say them in the first place.

"No she's not!" Cat fought back. "You're the enemy! Look at what you've done to her! You almost made her kill herself!"

I could just see the small tear drops dripping down Cat's face as she said the words that could've been my reality. It finally hit me that I really did almost kill myself. If the boxes hadn't been in my way, I would be a broken doll that would never regain consciousness again. Fuck, love really does such stupid things! How the hell did I get in this position in the first place?

"She had it coming. It would mean that we wouldn't have had to do anything to her."

"You provoked her!" Cat was screaming now. The few teardrops that she had before were now waterfalls cascading down that terrified face of hers. Her cheeks were flushed as she was standing up to someone that I knew was almighty in her eyes. "Not once have we actually killed someone who instigated us. Not once! You almost broke our most sacred rule. You planned this from the start!"

Cat's thoughts were written clearly on her face. She was figuring out a plan of Delta's. I could just see the gears turning in her head, and it made me proud that I was able to break her away from the fuzziness so she could finally think logically.

"You brought me in here knowing that Jade was up there," she pointed her finger angrily at the room that I was in before I jumped. "And then you forced us to kiss just knowing, you fucking knew, that she was watching! What the hell did you think she was going to do?"

I was surely stunned. Cat never cussed. Even was she was at her boiling point, she deliberately forced herself not to say the words that would cause the utmost offense. Delta must've known that too because she was frozen in her position.

"I didn't know that she was going to break through the glass," Delta almost whispered. Just watching the two go at it made my thought process work overtime. It was obvious that Delta had feelings for Cat, but her reaction from Cat cursing at her made me think that those emotions were stronger than I thought. There was supposed to be loyalty with Cat, but now Cat was choosing me over her family. That was probably breaking the poor, cruel heart of Delta's, and it was a different heart than one that held love for a sister.

The thought caused me to laugh and the two looked my way.

I knew that I had to act and just laying here so comfortably won't do me any good. It took all the strength that I had in me, but I was able to roll myself out of the box-bed and onto the floor with a nice slam. I was about four feet from the ground, but the fall shook my body. I probably just caused the last good skin on my face to break, but I didn't care. I just tried to get on my hands and knees, and it took a lot of effort, but I was able to get there. Sweat was beading down the sides of my head and I knew that this was as far as I was going to get, but at least I wasn't trapped turtle-style; left on my back with no way to flip around.

"It's so funny," I huffed out, looking straight at Delta even though my hands and knees were on the floor. "Even after you've beaten me up, shocked me, shown me something that broke my heart, planned on ruining my entire life with a mistake that should've made me innocent, convicted me to a life of misery and woe, Cat still chooses to be with me over you. You have all the power, can manipulate anyone you meet, give fear with just a look, and can pretty much do anything you want. I mean, I understand the fear thing but with the other stuff, I just can't compare. But, Cat doesn't even want to be with you. Not in a sister way, and definitely not in a lover way. That just makes me wanna laugh hysterically."

I knew I hit hard and in the right place because Delta's face fell. The composure that she once had, that was probably well perfected, just fell like someone pushed a book off a shelf. I looked at Cat to find her staring at me. I figured that the guy that held me hostage upstairs was looking at me as if I belonged in a nuthouse, too. Maybe I did belong there, but if I did, then so did everyone here.

"T…Take her away." The voice that was once commanding was no longer anywhere as strong. She practically muttered those words, but they were loud enough for one of her steroid abusers to hear. The doors to the room opened with a bang and out marched a man whom I saw walk in before to talk to my guard. His face just screamed pissed off and it looked like he was ready to cut off a finger of mine. Or maybe even an organ.

I should've shivered with fright, but I was far too exhausted and was just on a crazy loop. The lack of food, energy, and everything else caused my brain to be foggy and on the verge of collapsing. They may be sending me to execution, or maybe I shocked Delta enough for her to see some sense. That didn't stop the man from approaching me and grabbing onto my limbs to hoist me onto his back. Guess it was an easy way to transport people.

"Just…take her to any room, Kev."

"Don't take her anywhere!" Cat seemed to come back to Earth as she was forced out of her state of paralysis and ran over to the man that was carrying me.

The guy was just standing there, and I couldn't really see what he was doing but I saw his head looking back and forth.

"Uhm…" he spoke with confusion. His head kept bobbing like he was watching a tennis match. "I…"

"JUST TAKE HER!" Delta screamed out of nowhere. That shook both me and this Kev guy. I guess even a guy taking steroids would be afraid of a girl like Delta.

"If you take her away then I'm leaving you!" Cat's voice rung in the place, and even though she said it demandingly, it wasn't nearly as powerful as Delta's was previously.

"You're already gone, hun. I never had you. Don't you think that you had me played a fool from the beginning. I knew that you were never into me, but I knew that I could have you in my clutches. But unfortunately, you abandoned your family." There was a long pause before anything else was said. "Take her away too, Kev."

Delta's voice lost all of the hatred and was filled with despair. I would've felt bad for her, but the fact that she got what she was supposed to get, and that Cat wanted to be with me, made me just smirk through my weak state.

I expected Cat to fight back but was surprised when I saw her figure standing next to the Hulk, here. She didn't look at me, but took the guy's hand and then we started to move out of the room.

Before the door closed, I heard one thing that maybe brought some hope into this situation after all. A sob escaped from a weeping girl that was standing in the middle of the room.

* * *

><p>It took a long walk, and I'm not going to describe everything that happened because it honestly almost lulled me to sleep. No words were said, and no other sound was made except the stomping of Sir Giant and the soft steps of Cat. We finally approached a room that had no significant markings on it and seemed just plainly bland.<p>

Cat opened the door and stepped in willingly. I couldn't tell what emotion was on her face but I knew it wasn't anywhere near happy. Considering everything that happened before, this was probably the highlight of my day. Maybe even my whole week.

At first I was just laying on top of the Steroid Stud's shoulder, but then I felt his arms grab onto my waist and force my body onto the ground of the room. He might've softened the drop a little, but I didn't notice if he did. The many wounds on my back heightened the pain regardless.

"Thanks, Kev…" Cat said quietly. I wonder if she was thanking him for not killing me, for not placing us in a room filled with a tank of acid and sharks, for not wanting to do surgery on my body, or what. I looked at the two of them to just find Cat being all sad and that Kev guy showing morose. Maybe the man who took off limbs for funsies wasn't all that bad on the inside. Or maybe everyone had a soft spot for Cat. Who wouldn't?

Kev nodded his head and went to close the door but took one last look at Cat, his emotions just reeling with self conflicting thoughts. The door was then closed, but it wasn't slammed. That should mean something.

I thought that Cat was going to look at me as soon as the door was shut and just show off all of her feelings of longing and missing and all those things that Cat normally displays but she didn't. The girl with the red hair just stood there, staring at the door with such misery that I wanted to comfort her. It was too damn bad that my body wasn't working properly.

I couldn't even place myself in her shoes. This girl just lost two families in less than a year apart. I only lost one, and see how that messed me up. This girl was so sensitive that I was positive that her heart was breaking in so many ways.

"Cat," I croaked. I must've looked as bad as I sounded, and I really didn't want to look at myself. It's a good thing that they don't have mirrors in this place.

My voice seemed to break Cat away from her thoughts and she turned her body to face me, a small smile was on her lips. I couldn't tell if it was forced or legitimate, but I really hoped that it was real.

"I'm pretty stupid too," she said to me. I looked at her quizzically before remembering that I told her that just moments ago because of my fall.

"At least you aren't banged up because of it," I attempted with a grin. It hurt to smile, but just seeing her face lighten up a bit at my joke made it worth it.

"Not on the outside, no. But everything is so confusing."

The girl made her way over to where Steroid Man plopped me down and she sat by my head. One of her hands wrapped around mine, and the tingles that I got from that connection were sent all over my body. She squeezed my palm a bit.

"A part of me wants to cry right now because I just lost the only people that cared about me."

I could just see the tears that threatened to overflow again. I expected them to, but the girl turned her head towards me and smiled.

"And the other part wants to cry out of happiness because we're finally together again."

I stared right into her loving brown eyes and saw those emotions battling one another. I wanted to reach out and touch her cheek but my body was so tired that it was a struggle just to stay awake.

"It's okay to cry. You can do so now if you want. You've been through a lot."

Cat only laughed at my words and I cocked an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"What's so funny?" I asked, slightly amused.

The way that Cat was smiling at me made me think that she was in her own little world again, but she couldn't have been unless…being with me was enough of a drug to cause that.

"You said that I've been through a lot when you can't even squeeze my hand without needing a rest to breathe."

She giggled first before I chuckled, which hurt me internally so I had to stop.

"Well, I did fall down a couple of stories into something that was not a pillow."

"Yeah," she murmured. Her eyes cast down on me and her thumb started making circles on my hand. It kind of made all of the other pain go away, and I consider it pretty amazing that one person had such a power. Then again, it was pretty amazing that I was still alive.

"I've missed you," my voice spoke. I blinked when I realized that I didn't even make myself say that, it just flew out of my mouth.

Cat smiled sadly and continued to stare into my eyes. "I've missed you so much. It was torture knowing that you were in danger and I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't want to kiss Delta. I never wanted to. Please believe me when I say that."

"I believe you, Cat. It was pretty obvious from the way you just casually left that bitch's side. I'm glad that you chose me."

There was a good few seconds of just a comfortable silence between us. Cat was still smiling at me, but she then bent down closer to my body and very lightly kissed my lips. I tried to capture the moment in my heart but I knew that it wouldn't go any further because Cat was being careful of me. If Cat thought that I would break into a million pieces from a sheer kiss, then I _really_ didn't want to know what I looked like.

"I would never choose anyone else," Cat whispered after distancing her lips a few centimeters from mine. "I'm only yours, and not even a pill will change that."

I was pretty sure that by then, that was the happiest moment in my life.

"Do you know that I love you?"

Cat giggled and her chocolate brown eyes beamed with glee.

"Yeah. But I love you more." She decreased the distance between our lips and pecked me again. "I'd snuggle with you but I'm afraid that if I touch anything, you'll shatter."

"I'd argue with you about that whole 'who loves who more' thing, but I'm not sure that I'd win considering that you're here with me as we wait for our ultimate doom. Although, I'm pretty sure that I won't break under your kind touch."

I winked at her and I could just see in Cat's eyes how much she just wanted to hold me.

"Please?"

I've never been one to plead, but I wanted this just as bad as Cat did. Cat looked a bit uncertain, but she laid down on the floor next to me and held out her arms. I didn't want her to feel like she was going to crush me with her hands, so I used all of my effort to roll over onto my side. After a few agonizing bursts of pain shot through my body, I was able to get to that position. It's a good thing that I can hold in grunts of pain because I'm sure that they would've been so loud that Delta would hear. But screw Delta. It was just Cat and I now.

Cat closed the distance between us so I wouldn't have to scoot back and she spooned into me, one of her arms wrapped around my torso. Even with the cement floor beneath us, this was probably the most comfortable position I've ever been in.

"I would be happy if I died here, like this," I commented quietly.

"Don't think like that. We're not going to die." Cat's breath was warm against the base of my neck and tingles were sent down my spine. There was no way that I would love this any less.

"I'm pretty sure that that last move both of us made sent Delta over the edge. I already knew that she was going to ruin my life, but I don't think that she's going to let me live after this."

Cat shivered against my back and it made me wonder what was going on in her head. Since she actually knew what these people did, maybe she was going through some of the tortures that they made people endure.

"It doesn't help that I kind of called her out on her never winning the girl. It really doesn't surprise me that she's even into them in the first place."

"She was…she was just trying to get what she wanted. She's really smart, Jade.""As smart as I?" I chuckled.

I felt the girls lips touch the back of my head and I inwardly sighed.

"Maybe. I just can't stop kissing you, Jade. I feel like I'm never going to be able to do this again."

Her voice broke at the end of that sentence and her arm tightened around me, causing a little bit of soreness to be recognized.

"Careful about where you squeeze, Cat. I'm as delicate as a puppy, here."

The sniffles had already started with her but I heard a soft laugh through them.

"And it's my turn to take care of you."

Her other hand started to run through my hair as her sniffles subsided. I knew that her emotions were sensitive, and I'm surprised that I didn't burst out into tears. I didn't want to think about the future; I just wanted to live like this forever. Why was it that every good thing had something bad happen to it?

"I'm sorry," I said, remembering something in the past that started out good but ended terribly.

"What for?"

"For making you feel bad in the first place, before, back at the motel."

Cat was quiet as her mind took her back to the memory that I mentioned. I allowed her to before I continued my apology.

"I didn't mean to laugh at you being thrown in a straight jacket. It was a little funny but I thought that you were okay with it and was laughing along at the embarrassment. If I never did that, then you wouldn't have gotten mad at me and locked yourself in the bathroom and I wouldn't have left you all alone. Then we wouldn't even be here; we would be back at the motel watching some lame ass infomercial about some hair remover."

I was hoping that Cat would laugh at the joke but she was quiet. I waited a few seconds, and was going to try again, but she then spoke very softly.

"I think that things would have been worse if you didn't leave."

"What do you mean?"

She stopped running her hand through my hair and instead placed her head carefully on my shoulder.

"I don't think that they broke in because you left me vulnerable. I think that Kev and Mark would have tried to abduct me whether you were there or not. It might've been a surprise that you weren't around when they did. If you were there…I don't even think that I would've been able to make Delta believe that I would be with her because I would've tried everything in my power to stop them from taking you, and then they would know that you were a weak spot and just get rid of you altogether. I think that it was meant to be that things happened the way that they did. I mean, at least we found each other again."

I nodded my head a little bit because the pain stopped me from doing it correctly. What Cat was inquiring made sense, and I was certainly glad that in the end, we were able to be together.

"AHHH!" A shrill voice screamed somewhere. The sound had echoed in the hallway outside and it was so unexpected that the both of us flinched. It hurt enough when my body did it, but since Cat flinched into my body, it just caused the pain to increase.

"Ow…" I muttered, unable to hold the sound in.

"Sorry."

"What was that?"

Cat didn't answer immediately. In fact, she just held me closer to her as if creating a bond around us that she didn't ever want to break.

"Kev is probably breaking off someone's fingers or toes or…"

The quietness made my mind head off to other things that could possibly be broken.

"He does this often?" I pondered, hoping to get the conversation away from that thought. Although, I don't think that was the right question, but I was still curious.

"Yeah. It's like a hobby to him."

"Do you think he's going to do that to me…? I mean, he obviously isn't going to hurt you. Not even Delta would be able to influence him to."

"What makes you say that?"

"You only had to see the way he looked at you before he closed the door. He was so sad for you, like he couldn't believe he had just shoved you in an isolated room."

"I wanted to be here."

"But he doesn't want you to."

I heard Cat sigh.

"If you could, how many people in this gang do you think would back you up against Delta?" The thought came to me quickly and it made me think that if enough people loved innocent Cat, then maybe we both stood a chance at walking away from this without a missing body part.

Cat moved her position behind me like she thought that this subject was uncomfortable.

"Probably a few…but I don't know. Delta is pretty scary."

"She seems to be a sort of dictator here, and no one likes a controlling dictator." Emphasis on the dick. "I think that if we get enough people to side with you, we can take her down."

"I guess…"

"What's wrong?" Cat should've been on board with this. She wanted us to walk away free, right? What the heck was holding her back?

"It's nothing, actually. I'm just trying to think this through."

I didn't believe her, but I couldn't say anything back because there was a slight knock on the door. The mere sound made my heart go into overdrive, and I thought that Delta had finally come to rip us apart and send me on some way to be a flaming shish-cabob. But thank the heavens, it wasn't her.

The door creaked open to show Steroid Man, but this time he had a plate full of food with him. I didn't even register the fact that I was starved until I smelled the very goods that he was holding. My stomach growled angrily and I wished it would shut up before he decided that starvation was a good torture method.

It was too much of a surprise for the both of us to split apart when he came in, so we ended up just lying there with him staring down at us. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and he looked at us with mixed emotions. Cat took a few moments to realize the problem and she unwrapped her arm from my stomach to sit-up. I immediately missed her warmth.

"Uhm. What are you doing here, Kev?" she asked kindly but with confusion.

"Mark gave me some food to give to you after I was done with my chores. He said he would've given it to you himself but Delta has him doing something. I supposed you were hungry so, uh, here."

He didn't dare cross the line into this room but Cat stood up and took the food so that he didn't even have to. It was obvious that he wasn't comfy here and it probably was because of me.

Cat nodded her thanks and started to close the door, but the sound of a bump stopped her from doing so completely.

"What?" Cat was even more confused now.

"You have no idea what that friend of yours has caused," Kev hushed his words and spoke fast. "Delta is really taking a toll on this."

"What's going on?"

"Shh! We can't speak loudly about this. The stuff that went down about an hour ago has been spreading throughout the entire family. People are taking sides, secretly, but they are."

"What do you mean, sides?" Cat started looking scared. Her hands were clenched onto the plate of food that was mocking me.

"It's like one big gossip case. Some people think that you should be defended and some people are about getting rid of that girl before things get even worse. Delta has gone on a mad trip, sending at least fifteen people on Bone Brigades. Did you hear a scream earlier?"

I saw Cat nod her head and her facial expression only worsened with every word this man was saying.

"That was mine to blame but it was only because the chick was found sleeping by the wall opposite of our warehouse. She was crazy drunk, and probably wouldn't remember a thing in the morning, but Delta wouldn't have it and sent me to break a few ligaments."

I had to compliment this guy on vocabulary, even if he didn't consider me a human with a damn name.

"This isn't good…what are we going to do? This has never happened before…"

The man only shook his head with grief written all over his face.

"Honestly Cat," he said sternly. "Mark and I have talked this over as he was giving me the food. We're not sure what to do because Delta has been with us forever but you've been with us for years, too. Now, the only things we've seen her," he pointed at me. "do is wreck a few things because of you. I'm not sure if you fed her a pill that makes people clingy but whatever you did, you made her bond for you strong. Hey, you!"

By then I realized that he was talking oh so kindly to me. I was still lying on my side away from him and didn't bother to roll over. Still, being an ass wasn't going to help the situation now.

"I have a name," I commented. Just because I wasn't gonna be an ass doesn't mean that I wasn't going to be a bit bitchy. These people didn't treat me with respect the second I walked into this joint. Why should I treat them any differently?

This guy didn't take any bull though.

"Right now, your name is going to be 'dead meat' if you don't cooperate."

"Please don't fight," Cat intervened. "She's just been through the worst things in her life. Please don't fight now." The way Cat said those words were practically wrapped with heartache, and Kev noticed it.

Quietly, Kev asked, "…what is her name, then?"

"It's Jade," I answered for her. I figured that, to make Cat happy, I should roll over so that I wasn't trying to distance myself from this very important conversation. As carefully as I could, I pushed my body onto my back, but no matter how careful I was, it still hurt.

"Damn the person who created bruises," I muttered with my teeth gritted.

"Wow. You really are messed up." I looked up into the buffoon's eyes as he looked into mine. His comment just made me sore.

"You should see me on a bad day," I shot back at him.

I really believed that this guy didn't have a single funny bone in his body, but when he cracked a smile at me, I changed my views to think that the world didn't make any sense instead.

"This girl's got jokes. And not half-assed ones, either. I'm not sure why Delta didn't even think to give you a try."

"It's because she'd rather just have dear Cat all to herself and I want the same thing. We just didn't see eye to eye."

"Well, if you didn't before, you can't now. You've messed this entire place up, you know."

His look of humor changed to seriousness once he said that, and I knew he wasn't lying.

"I guess we've got some things to talk about. Can you help me sit up, Cat? I think I'm getting more sore from just being on this terrible floor."

"It came with the place and we were too lazy to fix it up," Kev smiled. Cat was just quiet as she scurried over to me and placed the food down on the floor before using her delicate hands to lift me up and scoot me over to the wall to lean on.

"Kev and Mark spend a lot of time together," Cat whispered into my ear. "Normally, Kev is a real jerk face except to me, but Mark is kind. That's why Kev can be both brutal and sincere. I think he might be slightly bipolar."

I just stared incredulously at Cat.

"Cat…I _know_ everyone in this entire effed up building is bipolar."

Cat only giggled and sat down next to me, bringing over the food and dipping a fork into it before bringing it towards my mouth. I accepted the food gratefully.

"This is all for you. I'm not hungry," she told me.

As Cat was feeding me, Kev only looked at the two of us. I could just imagine the thoughts that he was thinking and I prayed that they were nothing like Delta's. But if he wanted to comment, he didn't. He just closed the door and sat down on the floor in front of us, and then he started to talk.

* * *

><p>We all chatted for maybe two hours. I ate the food in probably ten minutes but Cat didn't leave my side when I was done. She just kept rubbing my arms or holding my hand or any action that made sure that our skin was touching the others'. I was glad that she was so anxious about me being there, making sure that I didn't disappear on her. I really didn't want her to disappear on me.<p>

The three of us discussed what was actually going on. Cat mostly talked because I was a bit nervous around Kev. I wasn't sure if he actually saw me as an ally, or someone he could just deal with. But Kev knew of the entire tale, and I added in the bits that only happened to me as I learned what happened to Cat.

The entire time, Kev was incredibly eyeful of us. He watched each movement that Cat made and most of them were her changing how she would touch me; from my hands to my hair and then my back. One time, Cat even kissed me lightly on the cheek. It was when I was discussing my attempts to find her and right when I was at the part where I split up from Beck to look for her, she just leaned her head in and her lips pressed carefully onto my cheek. Kev definitely noted that, but he didn't look displeased. I think he was actually a bit comforted at the sight. I hope he isn't demented.

So, with the whole tale spread out, Kev knew of everything, except Beck's location. I told about how Beck was with me and he disappeared when we split up, but Kev knew nothing of the text messages. In fact, the whole phone situation was never told at all. But Kev didn't pick up on the slight lie, and I figured that it was good that he didn't.

Kev then discussed everything that we didn't see with Delta. He told us about her plans of making my life miserable, which I was already aware of, and the technicalities of it. Delta knew some very important people and I was surprised to find that out. I thought she was just the head member of a gang or something.

The guy then told us about Delta's reign of terror after we were escorted to this room. Turns out that it hit Delta harder than I thought. The other members didn't know that she was crying, but I assumed then when she recomposed herself, she went all out. She sent fifteen people to torture others, a small set that included Kev to be at a meeting later to discuss what to do about me and Cat, and countless others to get a new shipment of pills, some that Kev didn't even know of.

"I've been hearing these rumors about these new super pills that just came out, and Delta was talking about being the first to try them. I thought that they were just rumors, but I'm afraid that they're not. And I'm not very excited to see what they're going to do," Kev had told us.

By the time that Kev left, Cat and I were knee-high in grief. The last thing that was mentioned was the fact that there were a group of people that didn't believe that things were going to be okay and just wanted me out of here, but they didn't necessarily want to hurt me. I guess that should've made me feel better but it kind of didn't. I'm still insignificant to these people.

But Kev did promise to come back with more information and more allies. He just wanted us two to escape from here and have Delta no longer after us. We'd keep quiet about this whole thing and they won't do anything else to me. I figured that was an okay deal.

And then Kev left and we finally had a moment to ourselves. Neither of us had anything to say to the other, though. It was only quiet as Cat held me, her emotions unreadable. She had to be scared. She just had to be. But there wasn't anything else we could do except be here and hope that the other was strong enough to make the bad feelings go away. It certainly was better than pills.

Not ten minutes later did we hear another knock at the door.

"Wow, Kev is certainly fast," I said aloud.

The door opened, and it wasn't Kev that wanted to grace us with his presence.

"There you are," Beck said as he stepped into the door with a big smile on his face.


	22. I Am A BullsEye

**Disclaimer: The property rights for the show that I am doing this wonderful story on do not belong to me. My wonderful story, that is very wonderful if you creepy people have read it lately, is the only thing that I can say is mine. Seriously, don't copy my story. If the people from Victorious can sense their stuff being copyrighted, then I will know if anything that I write is copied, too. I'm a ninja.**

**A/N: If there is anyone here who hates cliffhangers...I'd apologize but they keep the story going. Seriously, they're awesome, when they're not happening to me, that is. But the whole point of a cliffhanger on my end is so that I have something to work with on the next chapter. Something to work with + Boredom = a faster update. So if you people hate cliffhangers, remember, the whole point of them is so that the author can write faster on the next chapter so you can read it without having to wait a long time. That is a message of life, my friends. And another message of life is that I am happy with you people liking this story. I feel like I really should just thank you homo-sapiens every time a chapter goes out because without you, there would be no this. This is basically a team effort here. So thank you, from the bottom of my empty heart.**

**One last thing before I end it with an "Enjoy!" I do have a new story that I really can't wait to start working on, but I don't want to start anything until this story is done and until I quickly wrap up that other random story that I started years ago but never got to finishing. I really would like some opinions about it so, if you don't mind, I'd like to just throw it out there. I don't think that this story will have a sequel because honestly, I'm starting to get tired of Cade. My obsessions are weird; let's just keep it at that. So, is anyone here interested in Brittana? Because I have fallen in love with that couple. If you don't know who they are and like Cade, then they are kind of like Cade except they actually exist on television. But who doesn't know of Brittana? Anyways, give that a little thought and tell me if people would actually read this: Brittana and Zombies. Trust me, it will be a romance but at the moment, they are my two favorite things.**

**Sorry for being a blabber-mouth. Enjoy!**

In a way, I kind of didn't feel bad for forgetting that Beck was still trapped in this warehouse. Cat was pretty much a main concern of mine and when I finally got to her, I suppose that all thoughts of Beck just disappeared. But Beck was able to handle his own, so I shouldn't really feel bad. He seemed healthy, obviously filled with food because he wasn't really tired as he strode his way into the room and closed the door behind him. He was surprised to see me with Cat, but it was a good surprise. His face just swelled with relief as he took in the sight of the two of us.

"I'm so glad to see you, Cat," he spoke, looking right at the red head.

"What about me? Aren't you glad to see my beautiful face?" I asked him, flaunting off my _very_ flawless skin. It was flawless if by flaw you meant skin that wasn't broken or bruised.

When Beck's eyes scanned my body, a look of fear replaced his relief.

"What happened to you?"

I weakly waved my hand at him in a teasing manner.

"You know," I breathed. "Just jumped through a window that I wasn't supposed to be able to break. Got shocked a few times. Hit by a phone to the head. It wasn't much but as you can see, it didn't really leave a mark."

Cat's hand tightened around my wrist and Beck just stood there looking at me with pity.

"Don't you dare pity me, Beck. I've been through way too much to be pitied."

I wanted to be respected, not sympathized. I'm a boulder, a rock, a person who has been through hell and escaped. I didn't want people to feel bad for me when I obviously have more time to do more incredible acts.

"I just…" Beck looked around the room to avoid my glare. "I don't even know what happened. How did you find Cat?"

Beck was changing the topic, and it was clearly seen that he was, but I let it go because the conversation wasn't going to end well if it continued.

"Luck and insanity, my dear friend."

Beck gave me a questioning look as he started to sit on the floor.

"Uhm, what Jade means is that she found me, which I guess was luck, and we're here like this because she jumped through a window." Cat squeaked next to me. The sound of her voice was comforting, even though I've been hearing it for a while. I had to enjoy the moment because I never know when it's going to end.

"I'm still confused. Why did Jade jump through a window?"

I breathed out a sigh because this was the second time that I had to tell my terrible tale of tyranny. Cat noticed my impatience so she started for me.

"I guess it started when you two split up to find me."

"She told you what happened?" Beck asked.

Cat nodded her head and replied, "We've been in this room for a while now and had some time to catch up."

At those words, I leaned into Cat to feel more comfortable and to show Beck that things are okay with us. Beck noticed and looked back at Cat to continue.

"So, Jade ran to the back of the warehouse and she was running into a trap set by Delta. She's kind of the leader of this place and…well she doesn't very much like Jade."

"Why?" Beck questioned, his eyes so intense into the story.

"Because I was a threat, Beck." My voice was stern with the memory of Delta. I really was glad that my last words to her made her cry.

"A threat how? You never tried to hurt Cat or them. You just came here to rescue her."

I laughed at the thought that I only came here to rescue the red headed girl. Yeah, that was the plan after my plan of running away failed. And then there were so many other plans that got in the way. My plans, Beck's plans, Delta's plans, etc.

"Delta wanted the same thing I did. She wanted Cat all for herself, that bitch."

I looked at Cat to find her grimacing and my laugh quickly subsided. Maybe Cat still felt some sort of bond towards Delta.

"Sorry, Cat…" I murmured.

Cat didn't say anything to me, she just commented on what I said before.

"What Jade said was true. Delta wanted me for her own reasons and that was why Jade was a threat. So, Delta made me do things that I didn't want to do and it was supposed to make Jade hurt."

"Long story short, Cat was supposed to send me away, I didn't follow Delta's plans, I kissed Cat, got electrocuted, was sent to the brig, was then brought out to be shown a lovely romantic scene of Cat and Delta making out, jumped through a window because it snapped me, fell down a couple stories into boxes with foam peanuts, was in trouble but Cat defended me and now we're both here. Oh, and I made Delta cry. I just want to be congratulated at that."

"You made Delta cry?" Beck looked at me incredulously.

"Yeah. It was a great scene; you should've been there," I snickered.

"Okay well…I guess I wish I did but I never really met Delta."

"Trust me, she is Satan here. She sent out squads of her people to go break the bones of the innocent, all because Cat rejected her."

"Is that true?" Beck looked at Cat.

"What? You don't trust my words?" It was so normal of Beck to go to somebody else when I say something that seems too "out there". I don't lie!...a lot. Only when it's necessary and lately, I definitely haven't been doing a lot of lying.

"I just know that Cat has more insight on this. Just keep calm, Jade."

"I'll keep you calm…" I muttered and started to lean forward, only to be stopped by the sudden rush of pain in my back. "Ugh…"

I was immediately Cat's attention and her delicate hands stopped my movement to push me back to the wall.

"You have to keep still, Jade. I don't want you to hurt more than you have to," Cat coaxed quietly. She started to rub her hand on my back and it soothed me a bit, but I was still aching.

"I blame Beck for instigating."

"Everyone is the instigator to you, Jade. Except maybe Cat," Beck commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat looked at him with an anxious look.

"No, Cat. He was just saying that you're the only person that doesn't make me mad. You're special." This time, I had to sooth her. Perhaps I was influencing her too much…naw. She's still Cat on the inside, pills or not.

Cat seemed to ease up.

"Okay so…you two have any idea about how we're getting out of here?" Beck asked. I looked at him sceptically for a second. For someone who shouldn't even belong here, he was pretty calm.

"We've already had that taken care of. You see, there's kind of a civil war going on in here. Ever since I arrived, people have been questioning Delta's ruling. And since Cat is such a powerful person when it comes to people liking her, some people are on her side, and others are on Delta's. We have a guy going out trying to get more info about Delta and now we're just waiting until Delta decides to check on us or Kev comes back to get us out of here."

"Kev?"

"He's my friend," Cat interjected.

"You've done a lot. All I've been doing was wandering around this place looking for you," he pointed towards Cat. "and trying not to get caught. You got my messages?"

I nodded my head when he directed the question towards me. "And you got mine?"

He nodded back.

"It gave me a lot of hope Jade, you better believe. I thought that you were dead."

"Well, as you can see, I'm almost there." I smiled to try to make it seem like I was kidding but on the inside, I really did feel like utter shit.

The other two didn't laugh.

"Why doesn't anyone like my jokes today?" My giddy attitude dropped. I still had no idea how bad the damage was to my body, but I guess I should find out soon so I didn't keep depressing people.

Cat stopped rubbing my back to place a hand on my knee.

"It's because you really look bad. I'm not sure how we're going to get you out of here, unless you don't mind Kev carrying you again."

"No no no. And I'd have to smell his pits again? I'd rather not!" I reacted. Now, that made Cat giggle. Thank the heavens. I thought that she lost all humor.

"Okay, I think that I'll find a wheelbarrow so we can just tow you out of here," Beck added with a chuckle himself.

In the moment, I felt things just warm up. There was some sort of hope out there that maybe we all would get out of here, go back to bed, and just consider this crazy adventure a messed up dream. I'd pray if I thought it would do any good.

But just like all other good things in my life, this one ended abruptly.

The door squeaked as it opened and I swear that all of our hearts stopped beating. Beck didn't turn around, and my eyes were glued to the door. Cat whimpered next to me and she held onto me tightly.

"Have you idiots decided that what you did was entirely stupid?" An obnoxious voice said as a scraggly kid walked into the room with his shoulders so high that I thought they were going to jump out of his body.

Cat tensed next to me and I heard her breath a word so low, but I thought it sounded like a cuss. I glimpsed to find her eyebrows arched forwards in anger, and I knew then that this kid wasn't on our side.

"What the," his feet stopped after opening the door fully and seeing Beck on the ground in front of us. "Who the hell is this?"

"Go back to being a floor-grubber, Dayton," Cat spoke up. Her fingers dug into me and I hissed in pain. Cat eased up, but she didn't stop looking at the boy.

"I'm just here to see if you learned your lesson. Although, I really hope you didn't. Ever since you betrayed Delta, I've been her number one person in here, and I'm loving it."

"No one likes you!" Cat shouted next to me. I looked at her in surprise. This kid had such an effect on my girl, more than Rex did. Cat never shouted at Rex, and she used a phrase that I'd been known for. I'm not sure if I was proud or scared.

"Oh really? I believe that Delta does because she has given me the absolute, omnipotent job of being the life wrecker for this ignoramus soul." I could tell why Cat disliked him even a little bit. Only about a minute with this guy and I already found him annoying. His voice was so snot-like that I wanted to just punch it to make it stop. It practically gave me a headache.

"Would you shut up? You pedantic idiot," I commented. I bet he didn't even know what that word meant.

"You!" he walked right up to me, passed Beck who seemed frozen to his spot, and pointed a finger right up against my nose. "have no right to say a thing to me. You are scum, and have no idea the words that your mouth is saying."

"Had I a good arm and your words in your fucking mouth would be replaced with my fist!"

Cat probably would have stopped my rage but she was right in there with me.

"I'll punch him for you." She let go of me to stand up and bring her arm back. Dayton jumped a few feet back before she could do a thing.

"You wouldn't wanna do that! I'm not stupid. I see this other boy here, someone who should not be here, yet is a liability to you. How would you like it if Delta knows of this boy?"

That stopped Cat in her tracks, but it didn't faze me.

"And what if you never reached Delta to tell her about that boy? I know very good places to bury a body."

I could just see the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

He struggled to say something back, but unfortunately, he did come up with some words. "Yo-you know, if you do ever g-get out of here, the police will lock you up and you'd be sent to jail for m-murder. I made s-sure of that."

"I don't believe you. You may think you know exactly what you're doing, but you don't have a clue." My voice never wavered from the strictness that I had perfected over the years. This ignorant boy didn't scare me.

The kid just looked at me like a deer caught in headlights and even if this kid wasn't quick with actual knowledge, he was quick on his feet.

Dayton's body turned around in a rush and he tried to sprint out the door…before Beck stuck out his leg and sent Dayton spiraling onto the floor.

"You're not going anywhere." Beck's voice was deep and serious as he finally came into this predicament. Our friend grabbed onto the idiot's back and threw him over to the wall, making a very loud sound and almost knocking out the intruder of our room. The action scared me a little; Beck was never known for violence. But I suppose that this event changed us all on the inside. Hopefully for the better.

* * *

><p>It took a bit of time, but we were all able to drag the poor body of Dayton's to the room that Beck had been hiding in. Lucky for us, it wasn't that far, and it seemed like no one ever checked this room. Beck had good taste in hideouts.<p>

So, while Beck was dragging the limp body of an idiot, Cat was holding me up and I tried to keep a quick pace with the two. They would've forced me to stay in the room, but it really didn't look good if someone walked in and found only one of the prisoners who was so handicapped that they could do whatever they wanted and not have a fight put up. Cat kept saying that she didn't mind, but I think that it hurt her as much as it was hurting me to be my crutches. I had to grunt at almost every motion, and I was sure that it wasn't doing good things to the girl.

"I think we should take a rest, now," Cat practically pleaded, whether for her own sake or for mine.

We both agreed and so Cat laid me on the floor and sat next to me. Beck was quick to join us.

We couldn't wait too long because we were pretty obvious where we were sitting. Three people, two of which did not belong here, were sitting in a fairly used hallway while looking like they've committed the crime of a lifetime. If anyone approached us, they would question our sanities and then tell on us.

"I seriously regret being a psycho," I groaned while praying that the pain of walking over here numbed soon.

"If you didn't, we wouldn't even be here right now." Cat tried to make the situation better (how she was still an optimist, I would never know), but it didn't really do any good.

" 'Here' isn't a very good place at the moment," I said sorrowfully. Cat gingerly placed a hand on my knee and I sighed. I guess this was better than nothing. If the price for Cat's touch was to be injured, perhaps that was a good price to pay. So long as it lasted.

"Well, until that kid wakes up and tattles on us, we should be good to go. It's about lunch time, right? No one would be walking around here at this time. Least, I wouldn't think. Is that accurate, Cat?" Beck was the third-wheel, but he was needed. At least he didn't have strong emotions to clog logical thinking. Cat was seriously clouding my brain with that one hand of hers. If I wasn't so hurt, there were so many things that I wish she would do with that hand.

I shook my head without really shaking my head to get my thoughts away from that. I needed to be serious because if I did succumb to those stupid needs, then we would never get out of here. I'd be more of a responsibility than a help.

If Cat was in the same situation as me, she didn't show it.

"Everyone would be in their rooms eating or out doing something by now, yeah. It's midday, and since Delta seems to be sending more people out to do…things, then people shouldn't walk by here."

"Speaking of food, I'm starved," I commented. The little food that I was given earlier has been used up by my body just getting to this hallway. I was anticipating the inevitable growling of my stomach.

"But don't you think we should go back to our room? In case Kev comes back?" Cat asked. Her hand clenching on my knee told me that she was nervous.

"I don't think I'd be able to make it unless I had some grub in me." My words were honest because I was so wiped out. Weakness coursed through my veins and I wasn't even sure if I could stand up, let alone limp my way back to our room.

"I volunteer to get food!" Beck said out of nowhere and stood up, hand saluting us. I groaned but Cat giggled. We were still totally opposites, but the giggle did brighten my spirits, although I didn't let it show.

"Just go run like an errand-boy, would ya? I'm being eaten from the inside out!" I shooed the boy away. Beck only chuckled and trotted in the opposite direction of our room.

"He knows where he's going?" Cat asked, a bit worried. I placed my hand on top of the one that was still on my knee and stroked it.

"Yeah. He found it ages ago, otherwise he wouldn't be running like that."

Cat smiled up at me and I swear, I was lost in those brown eyes of hers. I could just remember the first time I looked in them, and the happiness that was almost always held in those orbs transferred to me. If that doesn't scream soul mate or true love or any of those sappy names you get when you found someone meant just for you, then I don't know what does.

"I'm still so nervous about Kev. I just want to get out of here and not have to worry about this anymore." Cat broke our stare and turned the way that our room was. I agreed with her a thousand times and more. This has been a nightmare that I just want to wake up from.

"Well, I heard that pizza comes faster to a house than an ambulance. So, how about we call us some pizza and the guy gives us a ride to the hospital. They can patch me up, then we can be on our way, and we'd have some nice pizza for our tummies."

That made Cat giggle again. Only this girl would make me _want _to say a lame joke and hopefully get a laugh out of it.

"I could really go for some pizza right now," Cat smiled again and leaned closer to me. "You could be my pizza."

"You want to eat me?" I asked with fake shock. The idea made me want to chuckle, but then, the idea came out of nowhere. It could also lead to…other thoughts. Ha.

"No, well…" So she _was_ thinking that way. That only made a couple of areas on me warm up. "I meant like, everyone loves pizza. Pizza is warm and tasty and gives people happy feelings. You're warm and you give happy feelings, so you're my pizza."

"And am I tasty?" I asked, the grin couldn't be concealed at the joke.

"I uh…I may need another try to know for sure." Her innocence was just so adorable but her mind was nowhere near it. I could just imagine the thoughts flying around in that wacky brain of hers.

"Just tell me when," I commanded seductively. The twinkle in her eyes pleased me.

"I…I think we should try to get you back up so we can hurry back to the room. Beck should be back soon and the faster we get back…"

I wasn't sure where she was going with that but I did agree that we should get back as soon as possible. Midday was almost up and I still didn't want to be here when someone who has a hankering for finger breaking decides to take a stroll in this very hallway.

I nodded my head and forced my hand to lift off of hers. Cat jumped up and held her arms out to me.

"This is going to be painful no matter what, huh?" I grudgingly said. Cat's face turned quickly to worry and I only smiled at her to try to ease those emotions. "It's alright. I've been through worse, right?"

Cat still looked uneasy but came closer to me so I could grab onto her hands.

"Just put all of your power in your legs so you can jump up," she instructed.

"I really don't want to do anymore jumping in my life. That last one knocked all sense into me. Jumping is very dangerous." I nodded my head like I was agreeing with myself. Cat smiled and entwined our hands together.

"I'm not very strong so you're going to have to try, okay? Your very best?"

"Always my very best for you, babe." I winked at her and she blushed a little. I must've been very hungry for my brain to go all sappy on me. Beck needs to come back quicker.

"Okay, so on the count of three, I'll pull and you try to stand up."

I agreed, the pit of my stomach twisting because it knows that pain is going to come.

"One…"

I held onto her hands with the grip of someone who was about to die.

"Two…"

I looked into her eyes, hoping that the love in there would numb something, because if a spurt of sheer pain did cross me, I may be knocked out.

"Three!"

She used all the muscles she had to tug me off of the floor and I tried to subside the ache in my legs to lift myself with her. The blast of a sharp pain sprouted from the base of my spine, all the way to my legs and arms and I cried out in agony. I was seeing red and white and fire was coursing in my blood stream and it was so hot, so very hot.

I couldn't feel a thing that wasn't pain and I wished ever so badly to flop back on the floor and sleep. I just wanted to sleep. Sleep was always good. There was no pain there. The majority of the time, the dreams weren't even nightmares, and even the nightmares could be fun. But while sleeping, there was no physical pain that could be caused by an idiot attempt to be a hero. There wouldn't be any fire now if my body would actually knock itself out for once.

It felt like an hour had been consumed with the red hot fire and the shots of pain. I didn't know if I did fall back on the floor or was standing on the wall. If Cat was helping me, I couldn't feel her. But after that very long time, the fire started to weaken and I felt little tingles of something that was calm and smooth. The red and white disappeared when my eyelids fluttered open and I saw Cat holding onto me. I was in fact standing, and the reason why Cat was so close to me was so that I wouldn't fall back on the floor.

"I knew you could do it," Cat smiled at me when she saw that I was aware of my surroundings. She couldn't have been holding me for an hour, so maybe time slowed down while I was enduring hell.

"I hope I get some sort of a prize for this," I muttered because the pain hadn't all left yet. It made me wonder, did she know that I had gone through torture? Or was my screams that I thought I yelled muffled? I guess it would be good if I didn't scream, otherwise people would be curious.

"How about this for a prize?" The shorter girl leaned closer to me and softly placed her lips onto mine. That did help cool down my body and heat it up at the same time, in a good way.

"I don't think I need anything else but your kisses," I murmured when she retreated a few centimeters.

The girl grinned at me and pecked me again. I wanted to do more than just simple pecking but I was even weaker than I was sitting on the floor.

"The hell is that boy with my food?" I asked. "How long has he been gone?"

"Like…thirty minutes." Cat stepped back a foot but still held onto me. What was once pure happiness quickly turned yet again to worry. Cat needed a good massage because she just stresses out too much…but maybe with good reason.

"Do you think…?" I asked without finishing. Cat could already read the thoughts going through my head. Delta?

"I think we should go over there…I can't leave you like this and he might be…" She couldn't finish her sentence, either. "Do you think you can walk over there?"

I knew that I had to, there was no other choice. It might be more hell but if this boy dies on me, I'd never be able to live my life in any happy way.

"Let's just go. Ignore any sounds that I make that are not conversational."

"But-"

"Just do it. We have to hurry!" The more that I thought about it, the worse things could actually be.

I started bounding my way in the direction that Beck went earlier and Cat knew that she had to help support me or else I'd be on the floor again. In a way, how we were hurrying would've been hilarious to watch: a cripple and a short red-headed girl trying to "rescue" someone. It would've made it even funnier because of the fact that this 'new victim' was trying to rescue the 'savior' just earlier. This place just makes us all crazy, doesn't it?

"It's just a couple more doors," Cat noted after about seven minutes of us rushing. I hoped that the room came soon and also hoped that it didn't. I don't want to know if something happened to Beck but I really wanted this agony to end.

"It's right over there, the third door on the right."

If people sprint their last lap when racing, then I guess that would be equivalent to how we were picking up speed. We were almost to the room when the shout of a man broke through the door and rammed into our ears.

"Beck!" I yelled and jumped out of Cat's arms to bust open the door.

The sight that I came into made my knees weaker and I almost fell onto the floor, but Cat rushed in and grabbed me before I could do so. I didn't want to keep standing because what I saw just made me want to lie down and die.

Cat didn't notice it yet, but when she did, I heard her gasp. I couldn't break my eyes away from the gun and who it was pointed at and who was doing the pointing.

The blonde hair of Delta's and the cold blue eyes were permanently sketched into my nightmares. Beck, his arm bent in a way it never should, his eyes filled with fear, was on the floor and would also be in those nightmares. And a gun, one that used to protect me, one that I would always remember that almost killed me, was being pressed into Beck's head.

"And look who we have here to join the party," the evil words casually left the blonde's mouth. "You're just doing stupid things everywhere, huh Jade? First you jump out of a window and barely lived. Then, you give someone who has no idea how to control a weapon the only gun that you had in your possession. Such bad moves, Jade. Very bad. And now, consequences shall occur."

"You damn bitch! Haven't you done enough already? My life is ruined! Don't screw his over!"

The words left my mouth without much thought. My brain was just running on instinct to protect my ex-lover, my friend, the guy who came in this madhouse to try to rescue the girl that I love.

"I haven't done anything to your pathetic life yet, Jade. Everything bad that's happened to you, you've caused it yourself."

"But that idiot kid…"

"Dayton?" The girl smiled at me, yet the gun was still pointed to Beck's skull. "Oh, he's just a pawn; a silly, stupid pawn. I know that Cat is aware of that. Right, dear?"

Cat went rigid and I knew that this was making her uncomfortable. Anger spread through me, though. How dare this chick say something that's meant to be endearing but twisted to mean mockery.

"A stupid pawn for what? You going to kill him off when you're done with him, too? Mess up his life, just throw him away? You were going to do that with Cat as well, am I correct?"

The smirk quickly left Delta's face. I hit a nerve, but I didn't know if that helped me or hurt me.

"Cat was different. I never wanted to hurt her and I would never grow tired of her. But she had her choice, and now things must go on." The voice that projected in the room was tired, as if the energy was just sucked away because of a few simple thoughts.

"Do you know that you've been hurting her ever since…ever since her parents kicked her out?"

Delta looked at me then with complete concentration. Her lips made me the motions but the words couldn't form. She was trying to say "What?" but I didn't need the actual sound to know that she was confused about missing something.

_I_ even had to think about when everything first started to go bad. I would've said "ever since we got here", but that wasn't quite accurate. Cat had been scared of things happening ever since she confessed her love and kissed me. And I figured, things might've even been bad ever since she ran away. She might've been scared of Delta because she went to me, instead of her, during that rainy and thunderous night when her parents rejected her. Cat has been breaking off pieces of her soul since then. I questioned if Delta even knew of that, especially since she was trying to ruin the only people that Cat held dear.

"This girl is holding me right now, not you. You wanna know why? Because you caused the broken bones and bruises. I didn't hurt you once and Cat knows that I wouldn't unless a life was threatened. _I _do things because they're necessary. _You_ do things because you let your emotions take over. Do you even think? Every action that I've seen from you is never entirely thought out. You just jump, you don't think, and let me tell you, jumping leads to pain. Have you even questioned what's been going on to Cat ever since her parents kicked her out? Had you even cared? She spent more time with me than you, and don't you find that weird? You're supposed to be her family; what the hell happened to that?"

Delta stood there like a statue. She didn't move at all, but was taking my words in. I knew that I had to be extremely careful, but the words just didn't stop. The girl needed to have some insight for crying out loud!

"Everyone at school always thought Cat was weird because of your damn pills. Because of you, she had to run away to a different family, to the very people that supplied her with this crappy life. I agree, her parents are fucked in the head, but she should depend on people that could actually care for her and know what's right for her. Don't tell me that you know what's right for her because you are pointing a gun to a close friend of hers! And not only that, look at what you've done to me? If it wasn't for you, someone who she loves would not need to have an operation to feel good again! No way would I go so low as to even let one of those life-sucking pills touch my tongue."

The entire room was looking at me. I knew that I was saying some inner deep thoughts here, stuff that I definitely wouldn't normally let out of my mouth. I was defending someone with everything that I got, and I was praying, actually praying to this God that everyone keeps flaunting about, that this blonde haired demon would let us go live our terrible lives in the way that they're meant to.

"And now the never quiet Delta has nothing to say? What the hell, Delta? What. The. Hell?"

"Just shut up!" the blonde shouted. The sudden movement made Cat flinch as well as Beck, which was bad because now Delta's hand gripped the gun tighter. "Just shut up, West! It's no wonder people avoid you. You always make them feel like crap because of your twisted, demented words!"

"They are true words and you know it!"

My eyes were on her hands now because I was agitating her, and it really wasn't good that that was happening. Plan…what are we on now? Q? Well, plan Q was definitely going down the drain.

"Delta…" Cat finally butted in. Figures that all of this drama would stun her. "Please don't do anything else. You've hurt me enough."

"All I've ever tried to do was keep you safe, Cat! Look at what you've done with that! You've brought in these two outsiders and just see the chaos that they have caused. I know all about people taking sides, and I should've known that you'd be the other side."

The blue's of Delta's were now focused on Cat, and I feared for her. I doubted that Delta would actually hurt Cat, but people are known to do drastic things when times are tough.

"How did all of this get so screwed up…?" Delta muttered to herself. She dropped her eyes from my girl and looked sadly at Beck, but something told me that she wasn't actually looking at the boy.

"I could ask the same question," I answered her rhetoric comment.

"I don't care about your opinions, home wrecker." The blonde refused to look at me as she seethed those words, her emotions no longer holding sorrow.

"What? You're the one that kind of broke into our temporary home and stole someone! How can you call me a home wrecker?"

Wrong move, Jade. In only a second, Delta whipped her head up, her eyes glaring at me with an evil twinkle in them, and her arm that held the gun swing upwards and pointed at me.

I should've stayed quiet, I really should have, but by now, people should know that I do the wrongs things and the freaking wrong time.

My arms flailed in front of me and I responded quite loudly, "What the fuck? This is the second time this week that I've had someone stare me down with a gun! Am I a giant bull's-eye or something?"

Cat had to hold on to me because the sight of another gun directed at her also made the poor girl weak in the knees. I heard her whimper behind me.

"You better stay still-"

"No!" I stopped the evil bitch in mid sentence. "You better fucking rethink what you're doing. You love this girl behind me? Bullshit! You're pointing a damn gun at her and someone SHE loves. Why can't you just let us go?"

"Because you've screwed up everything I've worked for! I had this place under _my_ finger until you came into the equation. Everyone obeyed me and we never had a single problem with anything. Then, one day, little miss Goth girl came strolling into our family's most sensitive sister's life and completely turned things upside-down. I hate you, you fucking bitch. There is no way in hell that I'm letting you leave here alive and happy."

I heard the gun's bullet move into position and the way that Delta was holding the gun told me that I may only have seconds left.

"So you want death on your conscience?" I tried. I had to try anything and everything at this point, but I guess in consolation, I would be the one hit instead of Cat. She was stuck in place as well, and it was out of fear, not injury.

But Delta was definitely not stuck in place. She started laughing so maniacally that I thought she broke a part of her brain.

"Do you have any idea how many people that I have killed? I was out in the streets for as long as I could remember! You had to kill, or you would be killed. That's life out there, Jade. That's life right here. You have to have the guts to murder or else you're just as good as dead."

Cat gasped at the words and spoke, "But we had a rule to never kill…"

Those icy eyes looked away from me to the shorter girl that held me up. They were still fierce, but I noticed that they held some kind of affection there. If only I could use that to my advantage.

I glimpsed back to the floor where Beck was and saw that he was slowly inching away. Good. At least the boy wasn't completely disabled. But wait…Where was he looking? His eyes weren't even on the scene right in front of him. They were looking to the other direction towards his left.

I tried to see what it was that he was staring at but as soon as my own eyes started to look in that direction, the sound of Delta's voice brought me back to the situation.

"Cat, you know nothing of what I've been doing while you've been flying on the pink pill. Or while you're away at your silly school. And even while you were hanging with this pathetic creature you mistakenly love. There are things I keep from you, probably everyone keeps from you just to make sure that you're safe. You're afraid of doing the dirty deeds, Hun. I'm not, and I bet Jade isn't either."

"Like hell I'm not," I forcefully replied to her statement. "If you so much as touch this girl again, I won't hesitate to strangle you."

A flash of anger washed over Delta's face for a brief second, but then it went back to calm.

"In your condition?" she said, her voice speaking with superiority. "You wouldn't even be able to take a step towards me. I might as well just end your silly life."

The gun in the girl's hand then cocked to the side and Delta didn't even blink as her finger hovered over the trigger.

"And so I will," was the words that the blonde chose as the final phrase that I would hear.

My thoughts were as such: this is it, Jade. Your crappy life will finally end. Your pain and suffering and anger and hopelessness will all be over soon. At least only you will die, and maybe that would soften this bitch up to let the others go. At least you didn't die alone. At least Cat was here with you in you final moments, her breath rapid against your neck, her tears dropping onto your flushed skin, her fingers trembling as they held you up to defend her without you even being a shield. You would've been a shield even if you didn't break every bone in your body. But at least you died with dignity.

Would there be any other way to die with pride?

I guess I would get a chance to know.

The bullet went off with the sound ricocheting throughout the room. It instantly brought me back to the moment when my father shot his bullet from the same gun and missed. Like before, it definitely missed it's target. Unlike before, my eyes weren't closed.

I saw exactly where the bullet was headed as soon as it left the gun. Instead of it being aimed directly at my heart, it veered to the left instead. Why? Because right before Delta's finger pulled on the trigger, a massive form collided into her, and that massive form just so happened to be my friend the Steroid Man.

I would've thought that the action would've made things okay. I would've thought that with Kev bumping into Delta, the threat would be gone.

Yeah, the bullet missed me, but if Kev hadn't intervened, then the bullet would still be onto me and another person decided to try to save my life.

Cat finally moved her body when Delta took her shot, and she forced my own body to go to the right.

Delta's left. My right. That only meant that one thing was still in the way of the bullet's travel.

And as the bullet completed it's life, the piece of metal struck the innocent red-head's shoulder and blood exited where the bullet entered.

There was more than one scream in the room.

Me, Cat, Kev, and Delta.


	23. Break Out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. I do not own a fancy car, or a fancy mansion, or a fancy glass of lemonade, so I certainly do not own any show nor one named "Victorious"**

**A/N: Hello people. I am late in updating. I also updated with a chapter much shorter than what I've been updating. I am terribly sorry. On the bright side (or maybe not so bright for those that actually enjoy this fanfic) this story is almost done. I predict, at the most, two chapters left. I did say at the beginning that I was planning on finishing this thing since I started it, and that is what will happen. I'm glad that so many people have liked it, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter. After this, who knows what will happen? Have fun:**

There is no God. How can there be some all powerful being capable of demonstrating immense potential yet uses such abilities in horrendous ways or not at all? It just doesn't make sense how someone as harmless and good as Cat would have to endure some of the worst pains known to mankind. There is no logic to understand why this supposed God would make such a person's life so unbearable. Why?

Why all of these pains? Why the bloodshed? Why must the good people stay to deal with difficulty while the bad walk away without any hint of grief? Why does this God ignore the screams of those pleading for help? There are so many screams that are left ignored. There are so many cries for assistance that nobody hears.

Why do we follow this supposed God?

I'm not sure if my own screams were being cried to this nonexistent being or to no one in general, but I was screaming so loud and so rough that my voice grew hoarse after only a minute of my yells. I was screaming for Cat, for myself, for living in this damn place where I could be in school trying to make Vega's life miserable and ruling the very ground I walk upon. I was screaming because I was fed up tired with this place and this misfortune and I just wanted out. I was screaming because I would rather murder Delta in cold blood than to withstand another second in this warehouse. I was screaming because of all of this pain.

Everyone was screaming because of their own pain.

Cat was yelling her head off because she just got shot by someone who told her that she was safe and was allowed to be happy. She was screaming with tears running down her cheeks because so much bad had happened when all she really believed in was good. She was expressing her sorrows because she loved one person so much yet has been told by almost everyone that she wasn't allowed to, that she should not, that she should love another person that society has deemed okay to love. God apparently has no pity for this soul.

Delta was yelling because her own adopted kin was instructing a mutiny against her. She put her heart out onto one person and was rejected for another, a person who, in her eyes, was subordinate. She had all the power in the world yet was completely powerless because of one person who didn't even want to be in this mess. Everything that she had built up crumbled because of one girl who just wanted to live a normal life. Delta was screaming for everything that she had loss.

Kev was screaming because apparently he wanted a battle cry before he came to save the day.

The only one not screaming was Beck because out of all of us, Beck was the only one who was thinking logically.

I was quickly thrown onto the floor, the mere action sending ripples of pain throughout my body. Cat was thrown backwards because of the bullet piercing her skin. Delta and Kev were thrown off to the side because of the momentum that Kev had built, and in that collision, the gun flew out of Delta's hand.

My eyes were closed because the pain and all of the screaming was just unbearable. The fire that I had felt before because I was forced to stand up was nothing compared to this. I thought that I was going to blackout, but my mind was against me. It stayed awake to hear all of the shouts and cries, the loudest being my own. I was sure that I would lose my own mind.

I was sure that everyone was going to lose their mind.

Except Beck.

_BANG!_

The sound of a gun firing out-screamed the rest of us, and only because it was shocking did my yells subside. Delta and Kev were the first to silence and Cat and I followed. It was then that I was able to grab a hold of myself and contain the noises that my sore throat wanted to make. In fact, I tasted blood because of it. But, because I could finally control myself, I was able to open my eyes.

Beck was the only one standing, and his expression was so fierce that it scared me. One arm was raised out in front of him and, following the direction that he was pointing, I found a bullet lodged in a wall.

Everyone was quiet because we were all scared of what Beck might do. He was the only one of us that had any sense about this whole thing. The only one that was still making some noise was Cat; she was whimpering.

"You all need to calm the hell down!" Beck forcefully said. He didn't scream it. Man, only he would be able to control himself not to scream. Had I been in his position, I would be yelling because all of this commotion was too much.

Beck then moved the position of the gun towards Delta. Her blue eyes grew about 10 sizes at the motion.

"I should shoot you in the head," Beck seethed through his teeth. "I should end your life because you tried to end hers." Beck pointed at me without even breaking eye contact.

"I should shoot you because you harmed her." He moved his finger towards Cat.

"I should shoot you because you have no idea what you're doing and you are a menace to us all.

"But I wouldn't do something so low that I know you would do."

Beck retracted his hand with the gun from Delta's head, and I could just see the girl sigh with relief. As for me, I wanted him to shoot that bitch in the head. I knew that she would not stop her crazy ruling. She was someone who, when they had a course in their head, they would do anything to get to that finish line. Nothing would lead her off course and she is desperate to complete the task. Beck shouldn't trust the girl to not try anything. I would kill her if I could. But, I didn't even know if I could lay on my knees, let alone stand up to strangle her.

Beck wasn't done with the gun though. He quickly moved his hand to point at Kev, who was just as confused as the rest of us.

"Who are you?" Beck asked strictly.

Even though Steroid Man was double Beck's size, he looked as scared as a lost puppy.

"K…Kev," the man murmured.

"Kev?" Beck asked for reassurance, but still had steel in his voice. The man only nodded vigorously. "Can you move, Kev?"

The man nodded again and got up from the floor leaving Delta a mess beneath him.

Beck pointed the gun in my direction but not in a threatening way, just to show Kev a direction.

"Pick her up, and if you drop her, you'll be damn sorry that you did."

Everyone was silent as the large man stomped his way over to me. I didn't even have enough energy to flinch as those meaty hands of his took me from the floor so that I was cradled in his arms. I really hoped that Beck had some plan going.

I couldn't just let Beck do this by himself, though. I was conscious, and since I was I should be doing something, even if the only thing that would work was my voice.

"Cat…?" I asked weakly. I pondered to myself how many times in the last few months I had said her name alone. It must've been at least a thousand by now.

A response to my question was a slight whimper again. It was easily distinguished as hers.

"You alright?" I asked again.

"Y…yeah." That voice was so tired and worn out that it seemed like it aged 50 years.

"Can you stand, Cat?" Beck added with concern.

I couldn't see Cat, but I assumed that she nodded her head and tried to stand. I could hear the shuffling of feet and hands and many grunts of pain but when she was standing, I was able to see her from the waist up, if I stretched my neck.

She looked tortured. There were stained tears on her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. One of her arms was holding up the other one, the one that was shot in. Blood freely cascaded down her arm, permanently staining her shirt. It was already drying on her skin.

"We're getting out of here," Beck stated. "Kev, you will lead us out of this warehouse and you will not call any of your little gang buddies to mess with us. And you," he turned to Delta. "Will not harm us again if you know what's good for you. One call and I can have this entire operation shut down. If you want the police on your butt, I would recommend doing something stupid."

"Just go Kev," Cat whispered because the large man wasn't moving. A little push from the redhead finally made the man move and he took me out of the room in his arms and down the corridor. I heard the little shifts of feet that marked Cat following us and then I recognized the sounds of louder footsteps, not as loud as Kev's, but they must've been Beck's. Beck's footsteps paused, though, probably giving Delta a stern look before retreating. A door then shut and Beck's footsteps quickly bounded to where Cat was.

We walked about 20 minutes before Beck made us stop to help Cat. I didn't even want to look at the damage done to her, but I couldn't not look. Her entire sleeve was drenched in her blood and I could see that every little movement with that arm hurt her.

"Here," Beck walked to her and took off his jacket. It was light material so Beck easily ripped off a sleeve and used it to wrap around Cat's wound. I didn't want to see her expression when Beck had to tighten the makeshift bandage to help stop the blood flow. I heard her yelp in pain, and that was enough to make me want to yell myself and go back to put Delta where she belonged, deep within the ground. I didn't say or do a thing, though. I just hoped that Cat would feel better after this.

I felt Kev's body move again.

"Tell me all you know, Kev," Beck demanded in a calm voice. I don't even think he needed to use the gun because Steroid Man was pretty shaken up.

"W..what do you mean?" Kev's voice was shaking as he continued to trudge his way down the hall.

"How did you know where we were and do you know anything else that's going on?"

"I heard a scream and went to it…Not much to go from there. Not many people scream in this place."

"Yeah…no one screams in here unless it's scheduled," Cat said quietly.

"And no one was scheduled so something must've been up." Kev seemed to have built some confidence because Cat was here helping him.

"He has my trust," I commented in my dazed state.

"Only right now does he have my trust, and he better not mess it up," Beck said. "Let's just keep going."

I wasn't sure if it was because we were all exhausted or scared, but no one made a sound after that. The nerves in my body that were shot still stinged, but I didn't want to make a noise anyways. If this fell through then we would be out of here. But maybe everyone else was frightened that we wouldn't make it. Something kept gnawing at the back of my mind that seriously doubted that things would be okay from here. There was something that was still a problem…but what was it?

"We're not going to the front door," Beck noted after a few minutes of silence. Curiosity rose in me and I stretched my neck to look at him. His eyes were leaping around the room while taking in his surroundings and trying to make sense of them. I was suddenly glad that I had this kid by my side out of all the other random teens in our group. Tori would've probably been crying her eyes out by now. Robbie would've wet himself. André would definitely freak out and start saying he had a headache or something. And Trina would've never been invited in the first place. Not even as a sacrifice would I allow her to be in the same room as me.

But Beck knew that something was up, maybe not the something that was in the back of my mind, but another something.

"Uh, yeah. I uhm…" Kev started to ramble some incoherent words.

"Just spit it out, man!" His breath was starting to reek and he was speaking right into my face. Did he have onions for lunch or something? Maybe a mixture of the garbage outside and a nice sandwich?

I think that regardless of his meal, the man was very wary about what was going on with his family. My words caught him off guard and he hesitated before he walked another step. He was such a badass before, so unless his pill made him seem like a bully and his real self was this wimp, he knew of another something that was bad. I wonder if there will be any good news soon.

Kev was looking back and forth while walking, like he was trying to figure out what to say before he said it, or if it was okay to say it in the first place. After what seemed like forever, he finally explained, "I wasn't able to get to the others fast enough. There are some that know that you guys aren't bad, but the others…Delta got to them first. I wasn't even sure how she did it in such a small amount of time, but from the looks of it, they're searching for you."

Kev was looking at me while he was talking. The big guy's words were only meant for my ears. This gang was looking for me and only me; not Beck and certainly not Cat.

"You're hiding something," Beck spoke up. I turned towards my friend to find his eyes staring accusingly at Kev.

Kev looked surprised that Beck was able to read his emotions so clearly. It's always been a talent of Beck's, I'll admit. Though, that special ability can get plenty annoying.

Dejectedly, Kev explained what he had been hiding.

"I found that people were keeping guns on them. I think Delta ordered them to kill you."

I didn't have enough strength to gasp, but it was okay, because Cat gasped for me.

"They can't!" she finally spoke, her voice expressing her surprise and grief.

The whole team paused, basically because Cat stopped in her tracks, Kev stopped because of her, and Beck bumped into Kev because he was directly behind the large man.

"Mmph," was the sound that Beck made when he collided into Steroid Man.

"They can, Cat. And unless you want to be her meat shield for her, they're planning on sending every bullet they got right at Jade."

"I'll do it," the red head said quickly, as soon as Kev finished his sentence.

"You're not going to do it, babe," I groaned from my spot. My goal was to try to say the least words as possible because every little thing that I did hurt.

"They're not going to hurt me though!" Cat tried with some hope. I felt Steroid Man's head shake.

"They might, sister. You didn't see the looks on their faces. They looked so determined, something that I don't think even you've seen in these people. It was like they were under a spell."

_Under a spell…under a spell…why was that so familiar?_

"What do you mean?" Cat asked, her brown eyes growing larger by the second. The poor beaten body of hers just trembling with every new, terrible thought that crossed her mind.

"I think Delta was able to say something that made them for sure out to get Jade, that nothing would stop them. Maybe their allegiance strengthened when they heard about what Jade had done or something."

"Maybe you were just seeing things and those are fake guns," Cat tried. I knew that she was thinking something that was probably impossible.

"Or maybe it was more pills," I stated from my spot. It finally hit me when I thought about it. Not too long ago, I remember Delta saying something about a new pill and that she wanted to try it first. That was what was at the back of my mind earlier. That's something that had been eating my subconscious away like finger food to a rat. That's something that we really should be worried about. The effects of this new pill may change the whole game plan.

Everyone looked at me in silence as they let my words sink in and they thought about it themselves. It really wasn't a far off idea at all, especially since this entire warehouse was filled with the crap. One pill could be spread so easily, like they were sharing chocolate or something.

"I think we can use a break." My voice broke the silence. One quick look at everyone, and I knew that my words from before were right on target.

"We're almost at the exit that I planned for you guys to escape. It's just through that room over there." Kev nodded to a door that was only steps away from us.

I heard the sound of feet flying and I saw that Beck had raced to the door and opened it to peer in, gun out.

The three of us looked at him bewilderingly.

"You said that there were guys everywhere ready to blow Jade's head off. I'd rather get to them first then them getting to us first." Beck just shrugged his shoulders like everyone was supposed to think that way. I just thought that the boy had finally broke.

"I'ma put you down here. Cat can handle you from there, right Cat?" After entering the door, Kev had placed me carefully in the corner of the room. I had to grunt, but it was slight. Not two seconds after my butt found the floor, Cat sprung towards me and kept me up.

"Yeah, I have her," Cat answered Steroid Man.

The feeling of her careful hands on my broken skin felt calming when they should've caused more pain. Not even a second after Kev walked away did I just want Cat to hold me close and take me away from this shitty place. Cat had to be even more careful than before, though. There was no way that I was going to get a hug from her, let alone an escape, right now. Maybe if I was good, I might get a kiss, but I doubt that that would be painless.

"So, how many bones do you think I broke?" I asked her, trying to get my mind off of the impossible.

Cat looked at me in shock at my question, her brown orbs staring with concern.

"I don't really want to think about it," she responded quietly. Her eyes drifted away from me, the weariness finally consuming her body.

"We'll get out of here soon. Cheer up."

I was at least hoping that my words were true. For now, we were in the clear, but who knew how long that would last.

"I wish that was for real, Jade, so much. I'm sick of being here. I want to go back-"

She was going to say home. It was right there on her tongue, but she couldn't say it. She had no home. Not before, not anymore, and perhaps she never did. Cat was figuring that out for herself and a teardrop dripped down her face as the result.

"Don't cry, babe. We're almost out. Look, can't you see Beck and Kev trying to open up that door?"

My eyes finally noticed why Beck and Steroid Man weren't with us. A few feet away, they were trying to yank open a steel door, something that was probably closed shut for more than a couple of days.

Cat's eyes were looking at the door, but they seemed to be looking beyond it. Her body was still next to me and I thought that she had gone into shock.

"You okay, Cat?"

Cat whipped her head to have her eyes meet mine at the sound of her name. She realized that she just did something weird, and she quickly changed her expression with a laugh.

"It's okay to be scared. I mean…you got shot earlier."

As if my words reminded her of the injury, Cat looked at her arm and grimaced.

"How is it?" I asked. I didn't want to know how badly she was hurt. A bullet to any place on the body was hell in itself, and Cat never experienced pain that rough.

"It's alright, I guess. It still hurts." The voice that usually had such an upbeat attitude seemed like it was dying.

"It's going to hurt for a while. You have an object in your arm, and we need to get that out of you A.S.A.P. If Delta wasn't such a bitch, then you wouldn't have to deal with pain anymore."

"I can handle the pain. You're handling yours so well and since you can, I can definitely keep going with this thing in my arm."

I chuckled and wanted ever so badly to bring her in my arms because she was just so kooky.

"I can't move, Cat. This isn't me handling my pain, this is me trying to live through it because I don't have any other choice."

Cat leaned closer to me, but pulled back when she realized that she couldn't put her head on my shoulder. I inwardly frowned at that.

"I can live through this, too. Just for you." Sometimes, Cat just says the right thing.

We were both quiet for a moment while staring at the two guys work at the door.

"I was wondering," Cat spoke. Her words held curiosity.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still have your phone in your boot?"

…

I wanted to facepalm myself.

"How the fucking hell did I forget my phone?"

I was automatically pissed off at my stupidity, but Cat only giggled. At least one of us found this funny.

My body sighed because no matter how much I wanted to hit my brain for lacking a vital piece of information, I couldn't hit me if I wanted to. "Yeah, it should still be in there unless I kicked it out again."

I was going to try to yank the boot off, but Cat beat me to the agony. She careful stripped my foot of the shoe and reached in to pull out my cellular device. It was then that I thanked genetics that smelly feet didn't run in the family.

"Are you going to call the cops?" I asked.

Cat was deep in thought as she stared at my phone. It was definitely a different phone than the one that she took and used the very first day that I met her. Was I the only one thinking that as she pondered at the object?

"I'm going to text someone better," the red head decided.

My question was: who could be better than the cops? The cops have guns, too. And dogs. And pepper spray. And tazers. I would know, all from personal experience.

"But who-"

The words were cut off by the sound of a rusty door slowly opening with a sound that could only be described as excruciating.

The two guys looked at us with victory. It was a funny sight, actually. Beck was definitely smaller and skinner than Steroid Man, and Steroid Man was a giant in comparison. How did we befriend this very good companion again?

Beck ran over to the two of us and stopped when he saw the position that we were in. I was still sitting in the corner. Cat was a few inches from me, holding one boot in one hand and the other holding my phone.

"Uh…hi?" My voice broke Cat from her concentration with my cell and she looked up surprisingly at Beck.

"Get…get your boot back on and then we'll get out of here." Beck looked so uncomfortable that I wanted to laugh; wanted to, but I doubt that I was physically capable of doing so.

Cat smiled awkwardly and then got to work trying to put back on my boot. It didn't take too long (only because I was helping to the best of my abilities, through some snaps of pain) and Cat finished the job by dropping my phone back into the boot. That was probably the best hiding spot for any cellular device, if you ever need one.

"Are you ready to get up?" Cat asked me once she finished. The look of fear that must've sprouted on my face made the girl laugh. "No, not that way. Kev will lift you again to the car and then you can sleep from there."

The way that she made those words sound matter-of-fact comforted me. Cat really believed that we were almost done with this place. As for me, being a pessimist and all, I still doubted that we could even exit that door, let alone reach my car.

"Let's just get there first, kay?"

Cat nodded, but I still saw that she believed her own voice. Whatever made the girl happy.

The girl beckoned Steroid Man over to us and I gritted my teeth before he grabbed me with his meaty hands and held me in his arms.

"Did you gain weight the last time I held you?" Kev asked. The smile on his face didn't even needed to be seen to know that it was there.

"Now is not the time for lame jokes," I responded to his stupid question.

"It's no wonder why Delta hates your guts…"

"If you were anyone else that actually knew me, you would be aware that this is how I normally act. Let no one in, and let nothing out."

"Except Cat."

Even this bulky guy knew how close I let Cat. Soon, the whole world will. Oh, great. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. I'm messing up my style, all for this one damn girl.

"Yeah," I admitted. "Except her."

"Enough chit-chat. I want to go back home in time for my favorite show!" Beck called out from where the door was.

"Giddy-up, my steed." I playfully hit Kev on the arm and he walked forward. "We must make sure that our leader get's back in time or else we'll explode."

"Naw," Cat piped up, almost skipping towards the exit. Skipping, wow. Someone has high hopes. "Beck's too nice to make us explode. He just will take away my bibble."

"You _still_ carry that crap around?" I asked. This girl just gets addicted to too many things too easily.

"It's the best tasting snack in the whole world!"

And just when I was finally sure that things were going to be okie dokie, the door behind us was kicked open with a loud thud and numerous guns clicked their bullets into place.

It seemed like everything slowed down. Beck was just about to strut his way out the door, Cat almost reached him, and I was certain that I could see the sunlight out of that door just welcoming my damaged body to some form of heaven.

I didn't want to turn around and confirm what I already knew was happening behind me. I didn't at all want to see the victorious grin on that messed up bitch's face. I had no control of the body that was carrying my own as it turned around. The stupid guy didn't realize for himself that we were being ambushed and facing the enemy instead of running was the most stupid action that he could've ever done.

There was only one thing I could've done, though. It was certain that I wasn't going to be able to get out of this without either a bullet hole or death, so I just yelled for the only person that needed it.

"BECK! RUN!"

And then I prayed that he listened to me for once as the events fell into place.

"I don't care what happens, shoot all of the traitors!"

That voice was definitely Delta's, but what surprised me was the order that she gave. Shooting everyone while knowing that Cat and Kev were here must've meant that she no longer cared about them. Whatever pill that she put herself on, it made her into a psycho.

Lucky for me, Kev acknowledged Delta's words quickly and shifted his footing so that he was able to twist his body 180 degrees.

"Keep moving!" The man yelled and then I felt his arms flex.

I didn't even have enough time to yell no.

Kev threw my body the rest of the distance to the door as the bullets started being fired. As I was flying, I heard the thuds as Kev was being pegged by those shells. My ears were listening to the sounds of death while my eyes were looking at where I was to land. Just like every other time, Beck didn't listen to me. He was right where a large red 'X' would be to mark my fall and his arms were open, as if that would help the fact that my weight would send him falling, too.

"Umph!"

"AUGH!"

Once again, I was at the brink of passing out but my stubborn body did not allow me that kindness. As if karma hated my guts, I was forced to feel every nerve and wound bend and snap while filling my system with red hot lava. There was a ringing sound in my ear that blocked out everything else. I could no longer sense the thuds of bullets and the explosions as they were shot out of the gun. I was in so much pain that I didn't even realize that my body was being dragged out of the building. I did notice that the dim light was suddenly brightened tenfold. And then I noticed that there was something yelling at me.

"…hold on…"

"…just…almost…"

"is she…please…"

"Jade…"

"Jade…?"

"Jade!"

As if brought back to life, my body jerked from it's paralyzed state and I was able to take in my surroundings.

Cat was hovered over me. Those brown orbs were so large, I thought that they would burst. Her face was red and she was panting.

"I…"

"Kev is dead!" Cat exclaimed. Her eyes were tearing up as she said that word 'dead' and they spilled over instantly. "Delta killed him! She didn't even try to tell the others not to. She just killed him… She murdered someone that was supposed to be her brother!"

"C…Cat…" I was too weak to say anything else. I couldn't even lift myself off of the ground that I was forced to lay upon.

"Beck has gone to get help… He was able to drag you out of there and we're hiding behind another building. He just ran after that and I don't know where. Just…don't say a lot. Be quiet. I've been hearing people shoot things for twenty minutes now. I don't know when Beck will be back or where he really went, but I think we'll be okay here."

Those tears of hers weren't very assuring.

"Don't…cry…" I tried my best to spit out those two words. I didn't need to say thirty sentences to get out a simple meaning.

The edge's of Cat's lips lifted slightly, but in a sad way.

"Too many sad things are happening now, Jade. I just- I just can't help it."

One lonely tear drop fell down Cat's cheek and landed on top of my own. I barely felt it, but at least it was still a feeling other than the constant burning of my insides.

"…love…you…"

Cat didn't have even a second to reply to that.

A gun shot echoed in our hiding place and I heard the bullet ricochet where to a spot only feet from us.

"It's about time I found you, you filthy slut."

Of course, it was Delta that had discovered us.

"Please! Stop this now!" Cat screamed and stood up quickly from where she was. I saw her wince and her hand quickly covered her wounded arm.

"I should've killed her a long damn time ago!"

I craned my neck. Delta looked terrible. Her blonde hair was in a frenzy, as if the weather itself mutilated it into some monster. Delta's blue eyes were bloodshot and the way she was gazing at me made me feel like she was slowly killing me by only looking. The gun was pointed at me, at my head, and with one shot it could all end.

But this time, which was much different from the others, I didn't feel like I was going to be killed. I felt like the universe had lined up in one big row and made it certain that I wasn't going to be shot in the skull. If I wasn't killed the first two times, what would make it so that I was shot the third?

As if on cue, a car the size of a minivan sped it's way down the street with the wheels making skid marks and it turned to the left, but too late. The minivan hit Delta squarely in the back, sending her flying.

She didn't even have enough time to look.


	24. Emptiness

**Disclaimer: The only reason I even do these each and every chapter is because for some reason, I slightly enjoy doing them, but only if I have something awesome to say. This time, I really don't. I just don't own this show.**

**A/N: Long time no see. Try writing a romance story when you have no romance in your entire core. It's tough stuff. Next chapter is the last one, for a sure and a fact, and will be much longer than this one. Sorry for the delay in updating, the probably numerous amounts of errors, and the shrinking of chapter size. I will make up for it in the finale. Thank you for being great readers. Enjoy:**

If I were to describe someone flying through the air after being hit by something else, I would call it, "mesmerizing". Not mesmerizing in a way that would make one look in awe, but mesmerizing like you just couldn't keep your eyes off of the person because you've never seen someone fly like that before. Especially since the person was practically broken in parts because she got hit by a van.

In fact, the sight was actually cool to me, and probably only me, because as she glided across the sky, a stream of blood casually followed her like a banner. Where the blood was coming from, I didn't know, but there was a lot of it.

So as my crumpled body laid upon the floor watching someone else's life deteriorate, I actually felt at peace. Even though my entire being was in agony, it was like a burden had finally been lifted.

"Finally," I sighed aloud to myself. If I was able to, I would have put a hand on top of my forehead to block the world and rest my eyes. It seemed logical because I couldn't sleep ever since I discovered this girl stalking my every move. I assumed that she was finally dead. Who would survive being hit by a car going about 45 miles per hour and being thrown in the air 100 feet? Definitely not me, and I thank my lucky stars that it wasn't.

"Do you…do you think she's…" Cat was whimpering beside me. I had forgotten that she was still there.

"I…hope…so," I spoke back with all that I could. I hoped with all that I could that the girl was dead, but if she wasn't then we had a devil on our hands. The bitch was already a devil, and if she just so happened to stand up after falling back to the earth and didn't even limp while walking, then she had to be some form of an underworld being. She just had to. But since I didn't see anyone running towards us with a knife after Delta plopped to the ground many steps away from us, I figured that that wasn't the case.

Cat didn't respond to me. I guess she wouldn't. This would traumatize her way more than it would me. If the events beforehand didn't do some serious damage, this would be the cherry on top of the cake.

After a few moments of silence, about five to ten seconds, I wondered why there wasn't anybody coming to our rescue. Actually, I was wondering why Beck hadn't retrieved us. Wasn't he the one that ran into Delta in the first place?

"Beck…?" I asked Cat. My strained voice made the redhead look my way. She found that I was staring at the van and she turned her head that direction as well. It was then that the driver's door of the vehicle opened up and out stepped a man.

I've never seen this man before, and it definitely made me wonder where the hell he came from. My first thought was that this was another gang member who had betrayed Delta, but then I took a closer look at him. He had shaggy brown hair and eyes to match and his stature was tall but not too built. Even from this distance I saw that the guy had numerous scars all over his body. What made it slightly creepy was that this man was smiling, and it was one of those crazy smiles that just makes you want to be on the opposite side of the street from this person. But then I looked straight into his eyes, which were looking at us. Those eyes were so familiar, something that I actually saw every day of my life.

While taking a look at the man, I hadn't noticed that Cat disappeared from my side. The girl stood up and started running towards the man, and then it clicked.

The guy had Cat's eyes.

I heard a squeal and my sights snapped onto Cat's figure. She was squealing in happiness while throwing her arms around the man's neck and hugging him close to her. The way that the man held my girl in his arms was so protective and reassuring. It pained me that I couldn't be the one to do that, especially since the worst was over. In fact, I was still in pain as those two people apparently had a reuniting moment. Thought the lack of pills would cause Cat to retain her attention span.

"Hello…? What…about me…?" I attempted to say the words as loud as I could.

The duo finally ended their hugging to pay attention to my handicapped self. Cat practically sprinted towards me when she realized that I was possibly burning from the inside out. It took her long enough, but I suppose it's better late than never.

Cat bent down towards me to carefully cup her hands on my face. The action made stings, but I didn't mind them anymore.

"Who…?"

"Jade, this is my brother."

Once Cat identified the guy, the pieces fell into place. I saw the connection between him and Cat. The brown eyes, the brown hair that Cat used to have, the pigment of the skin. The scars and that crazy grin would match someone who willingly jumps off buildings for fun. But how did he get here?

My brows furrowed in confusion and Cat explained my unsaid question.

"Your phone earlier. I didn't contact the police, I contacted my brother."

That made complete sense.

"Hey," Cat gestured her brother over to the two of us and he trudged his way like he didn't know any better. I wouldn't doubt that his mind was a little off. Siblings are alike, I suppose. "Can you pick her up for me?"

Before I knew it, I felt myself being lifted off of the floor again. It would've infuriated me, but I had to admit that there would've been no other way to get me from place to place.

"Be very careful," Cat warned. Was is selfish of me to love the fact that her voice held so much concern?

"What happened to your arm?"

The man's voice was so deep that I was surprised that it came from Cat's brother. It held power and authority, but the fact that it was coming from a dare devil made it seem a bit…silly.

"I'll tell you about it later…" The words coming from the girl's mouth were wary. I wonder if saying the wrong thing set off the guy. It seemed like he didn't really have a brain to control, so maybe it wouldn't be far off to think that if Cat said someone shot her, he would go ape-shit.

"Jade?"

I heard my name being called, and it wasn't until I did hear it did I realize that I had closed my eyes. I also didn't realize that the sounds around me had gone fuzzy. I couldn't even tell if I was still being lifted or if I was on the ground somewhere. All of the pain that I felt was slowly being numbed.

"She's blacking out…" I heard Cat's voice say. That lovely sound that always seemed to make any situation better was so far away from me. Was I blacking out? Did my body finally respond to my pleas of sleeping? If it was waiting until things were over to calm me down, then my body was a dick. I would've loved to pass out before Kev threw me at the door.

As my thoughts were muddling out, I was hoping to hear one last sound from Cat. Just one more to hold onto before I sleep for who knows how long.

But of course, I wouldn't get that.

* * *

><p>"I think she's waking."<p>

"Are you sure?"

"Look, Cat. Her finger twitched. I think she might be able to hear us."

"Should I poke her…?"

"No. I don't think that would be smart." The laugh in Beck's voice was so loud it practically jarred me awake.

My eyes fluttered open to bright light and once again, the smell of antiseptic. The room that I was in looked similar to the one I had been in before. It was bland and lame and totally a place I never want to be in. At least this time I woke up with a lovely sight before me.

"Good morning," Cat wished me with such a large smile once she saw that I was conscious.

"Hey," I responded. My voice was a little scruffy. "How long have I been asleep?"

I looked around the room again and saw that Beck was also with Cat. Well, I suppose that was obvious since I heard his voice. But it wasn't just them both; back in the corner of the room was a large man who I recognized as Cat's brother. He seemed to sit there protectively, but also like he wasn't sure where he was himself. Where was this bodyguard when I had my life threatened?

"A couple of hours," Beck answered without much of a thought.

"You were out before my brother even put you in the car. I got scared because you were oozing blood," Cat said while pointing at a section of my body. I turned to look at my right side and pressed the area. On cue, a sharp pain rose up in me and I grunted. I carefully lifted up the hospital gown and saw a nice set of stitches on top of my wound.

I looked back to Cat and tried to focus on her wound that popped into my memory. She didn't look like she was in pain and I thought that she would have to be confined to a bed as well.

"How many is a couple of hours?" I asked.

My question seemed to surprise the two and they looked at each other, unable to really think of what to say to me.

"About two days and a half…" someone finally said. My head looked towards the voice and it was Cat's brother who had spoken. Maybe there was more in his brain than I thought. At least that kind of explained why Cat wasn't in a bed.

"Why lie?" My eyes had moved from the unacquainted man to Cat. At this point, I really didn't want to bother with Beck. He had saved me life on countless occasions recently, and I guess I didn't blame him for fibbing about my time spent asleep, but I was more disappointed with Cat. If anything, she shouldn't lie to me anymore. We've been through too much for that, and over something this stupid? No way.

"You didn't really like it the last time you were here in a coma." Cat's eyes looked away from mine with a slight pain as she spoke. "A couple of hours and a couple of days are two completely different things," I was still keeping my eyes on her even though I knew that she didn't want me to. Beck didn't want to get in between us, so he scooted himself away. "At least in that time span, your arm healed."

The girl looked at the area where she was hurt and tested it for a second, rolling her shoulder just to make sure that the pain was gone. It couldn't have been gone that fast, she must've been on meds or something, but it didn't seem like she was hurting.

"I guess it's better," she murmured.

"Do I still look like shit?" I questioned. My choice of wording caused her to finally look at me and I gave her a smirk in return.

"You still look broken," the girl answered so quietly that Beck and Cat's brother couldn't possibly have heard it. There was a mirror on the other side of the room on top of a sink, and I stared at it in hopes of seeing what I did look like. Crazy wild hair, hooked up to so many tubes I couldn't even count, bruises on every inch of my skin, and tired eyes with red and purple circling them. I looked like a hot date. And that's everything above the blanket that was confining me to the bed, if the tubes weren't.

I shrugged as much as I could. It didn't hurt as much as it would've two and a half days ago, but it still stung.

In a way, I couldn't really believe that the last time I closed my eyes, everything would've been okay. I did that probably a hundred thousand times in that warehouse and not once did I find myself in safety. If it wasn't for the slight pain every time I moved, I would've pinched myself to make sure that I was awake and not having a dream in which I would wake up to a nightmare.

Regardless of my thoughts, Cat was staring at me. Those large brown eyes of hers, which should now be clear of any drugs, spoke a lot of emotions and thoughts. I could just see it all by looking into her cautious eyes. She wanted to be closer to me, to just be with me and have no other occurrence come between us. The longing in her eyes was heartbreaking. Even to me.

I broke the eye contact between us to look at Beck. He was staring at me as well, as if I might die at any second. I wonder if he still had any feelings for me.

"Hey, man?" Beck looked away from me to turn to Cat's brother. "How about you and me go find something to eat. I bet that big stomach of yours is starved."

It didn't seem like the man knew what Beck was up to, but I saw it perfectly, and I wanted to thank him for it if I ever got the chance. Huh, me, thanking people. Never would've seen that coming from me a few months ago.

Cat's brother stood up and the creak of the chair told me that he'd been there a while. Beck led him out of the room and I was able to notice a shadow of a smirk on his face.

Then it was just the two of us.

I glimpsed back at Cat to find her still staring at me. Just the fact that her entire focus was on myself made me feel happier. I wanted to reach out and softly touch her cheek which I knew would blush on command.

Without me even realizing it, my hand was stretching out to the redhead, but the tubes stopped it in it's track.

I sighed. "Why is it that we keep getting separated from each other? It's like destiny didn't want us together."

"I don't see it as that." Cat took the chance that we were all alone in the room to come closer to me and lean on the bed.

"Then what else could it be?"

"Well, since we're both still alive," Cat carefully put her hand on my thigh. Even though there was a barrier between her skin and mine, I could feel her heat warm me up. "and we're with each other, I see it more as trials to prove that we're supposed to be together."

Her explanation made me chuckle. "These trials are literally trying to kill us."

She cocked her head to the side as she thought of a response. "Well, isn't that love? Love can be killer, right? It can hurt and make you want to die and may even have death happen. But if it's true love, you are alive and happy in the end."

I scoffed at her while rolling my eyes. This girl still had the weirdest thoughts in her head. "And how do you know if it's the end?"

The redhead smiled at me and moved closer to me so I could smell the fresh scent on her skin. It smelled like hospital soap, but it was better than the sweat, dirt and blood from before.

"You're alive."

"Yeah, I am. Barely."

"And are you happy?"

I had to think about it. Sure, I was happy, but I knew that things weren't quite over just yet. It couldn't be that easy. There was something else out there trying to get at me because there was no way that I was allowed to walk away scott free.

"For the moment," I decided to answer. Cat frowned at me but then change her expression almost immediately. Some thought must've jumped into her head.

"What if… this happened to you?"

I knew what was coming and I was sure as hell glad that it did.

Our lips touched, and it was like static running through my veins. Cat didn't need to be as careful this time so as her mouth slowly started to explore mine, her hands held onto my face, feeling the texture of my skin and knowing that my cheeks were warming with her touch. My tongue couldn't stand it anymore and I opened my mouth to let it lick the bottom of her lip, which then made her mouth open for its entrance. I wanted this kiss to make up for the many that we've lost or couldn't entire have over the past few days. I wanted to run away with this pleasure and never not feel her body on mine, near mine, touching mine.

There was some sort of beeping noise in the background and at first I ignored it, but as the kiss started turning rough (with her hands exploring my hair and mine only being able to wrap around her back, feeling her through her clothing, our kiss being so intense that I had to run on such little air and my head was becoming lightheaded), the beeping became louder and faster. It took me a minute to realize that it was my heart monitor and for that reason alone I forced myself to break away from Cat.

"I think that somebody is going to be suspicious if my heart went from 0 to 60 in about five seconds," I commented with a smile. Cat understood quickly and looked at the raging heart monitor. The blush on her cheeks was so prominent that I wanted to kiss it, which I knew wouldn't do a thing but the instinct was still there.

"You're so cute…" I absentmindedly spoke. Once I realized that my mouth was working against me, I quickly wanted to take that back, but it was too late.

"Even in all of these casts and bandages, you are the most beautiful girl I will ever love."

I couldn't keep myself serious enough not to laugh. As a consequence, Cat looked at me with a frown.

"I'm so sorry, Cat. It's just, where do you come up with these things? I know that you used to say the weirdest crap but now that you're cured… you were smart all this time."

"Of course I'm smart. You doubted it?"

"No, no. Not at all. You just made people think that you weren't because you were always on cloud 9."

Luckily, Cat was brain-conscious enough to make a logical thought process in her head about my words.

Cat tilted her head again in thought and said, "I don't need pills anymore to be on cloud 9. All I need is you."

"Aren't you charming?" I laughed, glad that she wasn't mad at me for my honesty. I still wasn't sure yet if I was glad that all of these events had happened or not. It would've been nice to never had gone on this adventure and be at home watching television with my father yelling at me for not making a sandwich and my step-mom being a loyal bitch and making it for him.

"My step-mom," I muttered.

"Huh?"

"I totally forgot. How long have you been awake?" It's always as if one thought gets seeded into my mind after just thinking about something close to it. This happened many times before with me realizing that Cat was all alone in the motel and that Beck was still at the warehouse when I was captured. I only had to think of something to remind of something else that I completely forgot.

"I was never unconscious. They took me here and fixed me up and I never fell into a coma. Is everything okay?" Cat saw the panic on my face which in turn made her panic. Great job, Jade. You just had to cause more chaos.

"Do you know if this is the hospital that my dad was put in?" How long ago was it that I knocked him unconscious? Days? Weeks? He must've been up by now.

"I uhm-"

We were interrupted by a nurse. She came strutting into the room without even noticing that a serious problem had risen.

"Why hello there, Cat. You're still around, I see. And oh! Jade, you_ are_ awake. I just thought that your heart monitor had malfunctioned."

The woman was tall, skinny, and dark-skinned. Her hair was in a bob and she was wearing the normal nurse attire. She had no idea that even though I was in a hospital, I was anything but alright.

"Excuse me, I know that I just woke up and all, but do you know if my father was admitted to this hospital?" I hoped that fear didn't show at all on my face. Years of practice should've helped that but you never know. All of these problems could've broken my reputation.

"West, right?" The woman put a finger on her chin in thought. "I do believe that we did have a Mr. West here. But it's all right, dear. He was up and ready to go just a few days ago. I believe that he'll visit you soon."

The lady could've just put a gun to my chest and shot the damn thing for it to make me feel less dread.

My eyes found Cat's in almost a second and she knew exactly what I was thinking. We weren't out of the clear at all. Delta may be dead (which I wished that she was) and the gang may have scattered (which I wish that it did) but my father is still alive and out to get me. My life physically may not be in danger, but my life as a whole may as well be dead because it'll be better than the alternative.

"Are you hungry?" the nurse asked the two of us.

Cat shook her head and I responded, "No. Not right now, thanks." My voice was as monotonous as it could get.

I hoped that the nurse thought of my lack of a soul was because my father had yet to visit it, but she left soon enough.

"What are we going to do…?" My hands held my face in dismay and I really just wanted to cry, but I was all cried out. Now I just felt empty, like anything I could do wouldn't do a thing because life would just throw some other problem at me again.

Cat came over to me once again and removed my hands from my face. She didn't need to force me to look at her; she's all I wanted to look at.

"When am I going to be happy? That's the end right? True happiness? I keep getting through that alive part but this pursuit of happiness is torture."

My eyes grew so tired even after sleeping for more than two days. Why didn't I just kill my dad with that gun? It would've been so easy. A clean shot, blame it on the neighbors, and then I could be in this bed trying to recuperate, not worrying about another life sentence.

"We'll get through this. I promise." Her tone was stern and promising. She was changing just like I was. I saw it now. Even though I was becoming more soft, I was also making her stronger.

* * *

><p>I think I had been at the hospital for three more days until the lazy days of Cat being with me changed. I say 'I think' because I couldn't count day and night anymore. I slept at random times and whenever I woke up, Cat was there. Sometimes I would feel her sleeping with me and it would make the nightmares go away. The nightmares cause the messed up internal clock. I kept reliving images of the fights and the gun pointing and especially the part where Kev got shot.<p>

That one scene kept repeating every time I closed my eyes. My body was flying through the air before I even realized it. Just moments beforehand, Kev was protecting my injured body and then all of a sudden, I was airborne and Kev was taking bullets to the chest. Not to mention, the part where Delta got hit by the van was forever etched into my eyelids. Death everywhere made things unbearable, but it was such a great thing that every time my eyes opened, Cat was there. She was my balance between sanity and insanity. That is, until the approximate three day count was up.

The knock was common and not something I would normally worry about. Three taps on the door and it opened to what I expected to be a friend or nurse. It wasn't either of them.

Cat was sitting besides me while playing with my hair as we were discussing the differences between Disney World and Disney Land. I didn't know that there were so many differences but Cat apparently had been to both many times.

When the door opened, a man in a slick black suit walked in with a briefcase. Briefcases always meant bad news.

"You're Jade West?" The man's eyes were an icy blue, and they immediately reminded me of Delta's, even though his were lighter; more like a sky blue instead of darker shade that Delta's had been. My body shook from the memory and Cat took notice. She stopped playing with my hair to hold onto me.

I nodded to the man in reply. For some reason, I didn't want to trust my voice. This guy looked serious enough to send me to jail. That was probably what he was there for.

"You have a court hearing, Miss West. Your father came to the police to tell about a certain crime that had been committed and you are a prime suspect for the murder of your step-mother."

My heart fell through my chest and into my gut. I had no way to defend myself. A court hearing? I didn't even have a lawyer while my dad probably could've bought one with the money he had been stashing away for who knows what. I suddenly wished I knew where my car full of cash went. For all I knew, it was still in the ghetto, broken into, and all the cash was gone.

"I didn't do it!" I quickly reacted. My eyes plead into his. I had no way to know if he knew I was innocent or just some delinquent who lies a lot.

"Of course you didn't, Jade. That's why I am here to help you. I was sent by the state to defend you on your behalf."

The look in his eyes told me that he didn't believe me for squat. Those blue eyes were just as evil as Delta's.

I had no idea what to say. My mouth had dried up and my thoughts were everywhere but where they should be. It's a good thing that I had Cat at my side.

"When is the hearing?" she asked him with a voice full of life.

"Two days time," he replied and looked away. I assumed that he didn't even want to bother with kids that were guilty to him. "That should give Miss West enough time to heal up some more and then be put on trial."

My body wanted to go up to the man and slap him across the face. I knew he was bad as soon as he walked into the door with that briefcase. But there wasn't anything I could do. I was only a kid, with no money, no witnesses to say that I was innocent (except for drugging my father), and no one to defend myself. All I had was Cat and most people didn't take her seriously at all. Even before she opened her mouth, her hair would automatically turn adults' cares off.

"I should be going now," the guy said after a long period of silence. I was pretty sure that he assumed we knew he was bullshitting us.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," I muttered. Cat looked at me with disappointment but I didn't care. I knew she didn't like him either.

It didn't matter anyways because the man left before I even said the words.

I was going to have to face my father in court and he was going to send me to jail for life. Could things get any worse?

"Don't you worry about a thing," I heard Cat mumble next to me. Her arms wrapped around me and they pulled me close to her so that I felt her breath on my face. I didn't even want to move. I didn't even have a plan anymore. Every time before, I had some sort of a plan, even if it ended up sucking.

I didn't have a plan for this.


	25. The End

**Disclaimer: I do not own this show. Whatsoever.**

"All rise."

Every person in the room rose to their feet. Every, what was it, five, six people? Yeah, there was barely anyone in the courtroom, at least as just plain witnesses. A few jury duty members (poor souls), my few friends, the judge, bailiff, and of course the poor victims that are being blamed for and are the blamer; me and my dad and our supposed lawyers. I still wasn't exactly sure how I got mine, but something told me that my father sneaked a few bills to make sure that I had someone who would surely send me to the brig. It seems like he's super sober now.

"You may now all sit," the judge had walked out and sat behind her podium, mallet in hand. I thought to myself how one simple wooden object made everything the lady said as strict as a law.

Before everyone was able to sit down in their seats, I quickly jumped into action.

"Your honor, I am innocent!" I spoke loudly, using every acting skill that I had to make sure that my expression was as pure as could be.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my father stood up from his chair and shouted in turn, "She is lying, your honor! Don't believe a word that she says!"

"Quiet! Both of you! Not even two minutes in this place and I already have a migraine."

The comment shut us both up and I turned my head in the man's direction. He was just as ugly and desperate as I remembered. It didn't seem like my little forced overdose did enough damage. In my mind, I started picturing my father foaming at the mouth and having such a seizure that people would think he was a fish out of water. Too bad my thoughts did nothing as the angry sperm donor pierced daggers at me.

I fidgeted in my seat as I waited for the judge to say something else. She was ruffling through some papers on the podium and every little crackle sent shocks to my nerves. What if I didn't make it out of this mess? I was pretty sure that my father had something up his sleeve, especially since he was so confident with having this trial. I wondered what proof he could've possibly came up with.

"Jade West."

I heard my name and quickly looked up to find the source. My eyes connected with the judge's cold brown ones and I froze in my seat. The way the lady was scrutinizing me made me feel like she already condemned me as guilty.

"You are here under the notion that you shot and murdered your step-mother, kidnapped a fellow schoolmate of yours, and stole money from your father's bank account."

It wasn't until she stated the last offense that I actually felt a little guilty. The first two were just bullcrap but I guess that Daddy figured out that I jacked some of his loot. I would have automatically called out the whole kidnap part as crazy, but for some reason, I thought better and kept my mouth shut. The last thing that I wanted to do right now was to get on this lady's bad side.

"May I ask you," the judge continued. "what were your events during these previous weeks?"

Okay, so now she wanted to know everything that just happened? The very thoughts that I pretty much wanted to put away in a little bottle made to store nightmares? I honestly didn't even want to spit the words out. I assumed she wanted to know why I looked messed up and scared.

"I just want your side of the story, honey," the judge commented when I hadn't spoken.

"From when my step-mother was shot?" The words coming out of my mouth felt so forced that my voice was scratchy.

"That would be a good start."

I figured that it was no use to lie now, especially in a court. At the beginning, they did the whole right hand up and pledge to tell only the truth and nothing but. Maybe as I minor I would only have to do Juvie. I heard Juvie was tough, but hopefully it would be easier than Delta's warehouse.

"Okay…I ditched school, in a way." I stopped looking at the judge's face. "I took Cat with me, yes, but she went willingly." Okay, that wasn't entirely true but she didn't stop me and she knew that if she didn't want to come with, I would let her go.

"Something happened during one of our classes that racked up my emotions and I couldn't take it anymore."

"What caused you to crack?" the judge questioned. One look at her and I could tell that she was engrossed in the story. I didn't dare turn to see what expression was on my father's face.

I didn't even really want to mention why Cat and I fled because it was embarrassing enough. Vega making out with my girlfriend in front of me…not really something that would gain sympathy, especially to someone of my likes.

But, I had to bite the bullet and say the truth. The one time that I really had to say the truth to each and every question thrown my way. This was my personal room 101.

"Cat…Cat is my girlfriend, actually. There was this other girl in our class and they had to do an acting exercise. The other girl dislikes me a lot so during it, she called Cat up, and kissed her in front of me."

I could practically feel the heated anger that my Dad had all the way in my seat. I knew it was because of the word 'girlfriend', but I wasn't ashamed of having Cat as such.

It seemed like the judge was indifferent to our relationship, though, for she only said, "Continue."

"Well, Cat and I drove in my car back to my house so I could get some supplies to…run away. I had planning it for a while, actually. Cat's parents practically disowned her and my own didn't even care for my existence." At those words, I wondered if I went too far to put Cat's baggage out in the open. "I told her to wait outside because I didn't want her to be caught while I went to get some stuff. It was supposed to be a quick in and out and I will admit that I stole some money from my father."

"Not _some _money! She practically wiped out my bank account!"

"Mr. West!" The judge snapped at my father's outburst. "I did not ask for you to speak. You will have your chance, but for now, keep your yap shut!"

Like a puppy being scolded, he did so.

The lady nodded and I kept talking, "Uh, yeah, so I did take money from him but it was only because I needed it to sustain our plan for running away. I did initially have a plan, but things got out of control before I was even able to start it."

"What do you mean, 'out of control'?" she asked.

"To bluntly put it, my step-mom caught me. She kept me in the house while secretly calling my father to come and punish me, but she didn't know that Cat was outside, and when my father did show up, he noticed Cat quickly."

The memory, even though it occurred a long while ago, still caused such ache and panic in my heart. I can easily say that it was one of the scariest, if not the most scariest, event of my life.

I took a breath of air and continued, "My father wasn't all too happy. Cat stayed over at my house previously and we uhm, did it." I could feel the blush as I recalled the dirty deed that we did. "My father was suspicious about it all and he didn't initially know that it was Cat in my room. You see, my father is a real homophobic, and he doesn't like people on his property, or people in general. When he saw Cat, I assume that he immediately went to try to get her off of the property, but then she called out for me. I tried to run to get her but my step-mother tackled me to the ground. My father recognized her voice as the person saying my name in my room the night that she slept over. He got pissed off, I was able to get my step-mother off of me and ran out the door to come face to face with my father's pistol. He was going to shoot Cat, but then noticed me outside, and I guess he disowned me right there and then because of mine and Cat's relationship. He was going to shoot me, but Cat jumped on him and it caused the bullet to pierce my step-mom. That's how she died."

I tried not to say more than what's needed. It was enough to cause me to be a total wreck just by saying all of this stuff that I really just wanted to forget. I knew that my father would put up a fight, though.

"Is it my turn to say my side of the story?" my father asked with what I would think was his kind voice. I never really heard it before.

"Go on," the judge stated in his direction while contemplating my half of the story.

"I would first like to say that my daughter has no right to claim what I am and what I am not. I do like people, and I am not homophobic, I just think that it's not natural for two guys or two girls to do the dirty or to love each other more than friends. God put us on this earth so that we may reproduce, and two of the same gender cannot do that."

"Would you get to the story, already? If I wanted this sort of lecture, I would've gone to a Catholic church and gotten free food while I'm at it," the judge groaned.

My father straightened up and spoke again, "Er, well, yes. My wife as of late called me early one day. I was at work and my phone rang so I answered it. She didn't speak to me, but I overheard her voice and Jade's voice. I looked at the time and knew that Jade shouldn't be home, so I went over to see what was up. I saw Jade's car parked in the driveway, but in the passenger seat was someone who was not Jade, and that got me worried. It was a girl, uh, that one over there." He looked around and pointed to Cat who was sitting in her seat and looking so worried that I could just sense her shaking. "I thought that she was some demon because of her red coloring, out to get my little girl. In the time of day and the current situation, she looked threatening, so I took out my gun and approached her."

"Stop."

Everyone paused at the judge's words.

"Do you have a license to own a gun? And if so, I would like to see the papers."

I thought for sure that she had gotten him. My dad didn't have any license for anything except his driver's license which I was pretty sure had been taken away from him.

"Yes, your honor, I do have the papers for my license."

My jaw practically dropped. He was bluffing through his teeth! I wouldn't have believed that he had them if he didn't take papers out of the briefcase in front of him and give them his lawyer to show the judge. While my own supposed lawyer beside me wasn't doing crap, I was here knowing that my father forged those papers. He didn't have a license for anything!

"Okay, carry on." The judge nodded as she approved the papers in her hand and gave them back to the lawyer.

"So like I was saying, I approached the girl and she started screaming bloody murder, which only made me think that she did something wrong. Jade came out of the house and quickly tackled me, obviously thinking that I hurt the girl that I just wanted some answers from. She then took the gun and shot my wife."

My eyes widened at the man's words.

"That is not what happened!" I yelled without being able to stop myself.

"Quiet!"

The mallet pounded and it caused me to remember that I was supposed to shut up. I wanted to stay on the judge's good side, not screw myself over.

"If I may." It wasn't until then that I remembered that I had a guy next to me. His presence didn't even fit in my mind because I was pretty sure that he wouldn't do anything to help my case. To me, that meant that he was going to be quiet while he was hugging his briefcase. I wish that he did remain quiet.

The judge nodded to the man to speak.

"My client, Jade West, has been known to be a rough and conniving individual. There are reports in her records in which she has attacked other students in her class, verbally abused many of them, and created an aura of fear. I wouldn't be surprised if she did threaten her father over this girl."

I felt like the world was against me today. This man was being the opposite of what a lawyer should be. Actually, no, I take that back. Lawyers are supposed to be heartless people.

It took all that I had to bite my lip and not speak out. But I knew that I was stuck as well. If I spoke, the judge would hate me. If I didn't speak, then the lawyer would be able to twist all my actions towards my father's favor. What I didn't understand was why the judge allowed my lawyer to sabotage my claim.

After the man spoke his words, the judge then looked at me. Her eyes were practically reading into my mind, that's how serious she was.

"Is this true?" she asked me.

I knew that I shouldn't lie because lying would do anything good for me right now.

"Y-yes. What this attorney said is true…"

The judge nodded her head, but knowing me, I just couldn't let that be the only thing I should say.

"But what my father said is false!"

I could tell that me pushing that fact was starting to bug her, but she shouldn't forget that I was here fighting.

The judge sighed and then her eyes swept over the room. I didn't turn to see what she was looking for, but for some reason I knew what it was anyways.

"Cat Valentine, come take a seat next to me."

I didn't dare want to turn to see the expression that Cat had. No doubt she was nervous, and she was probably even more nervous than she would've normally been because her head wasn't in cloud 9.

The room was quiet except for the soft sound of Cat's footsteps. They were slow, obviously trying to wait out the moment, and when the door that separated the action and the viewers opened, I finally turned towards her. Her eyes met mine immediately and I saw fear in them, but it wasn't fear for her. I think it was fear for me.

"Up here, dear," the judge said while motioning to the seat beside her. Cat sat down stiffly and continued staring at me, and I can definitely say that my eyes didn't leave hers either.

The judge looked around the room before saying what her mind had planned out. "So, we've heard the young Ms. West's side of the story as well as Mr. West's. I think it's fair if we heard your side of this story."

Cat still looked unnerved but after a few deep gulps of breath, she opened her mouth and started speaking. She said almost exactly what I said except that she started off with being in the car waiting for me to return.

The judge nodded her head along with the story and when it was done, Cat was sent back to her seat. If only I was able to say some encouraging words to her, but I was at a loss.

There really wasn't much else to do at this point, and I may not know a hell of a lot about court hearings but I did know that you needed witnesses to say stuff but we were fresh out of them. I saw the jury at my side thinking things over and whispering to one another. Just watching them made me itchy and nervous. I could see my dad pulling at his collar in frustration and I knew that he would just love it if the two of us could only go at it. I wouldn't mind the fight as well, but the judge wouldn't like the show.

It seemed like it had been hours that the jury was talking things over, but the judge finally spoke in a booming voice, "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

One man in the corner of the rows stood up. He seemed like a fidgety man who never knew if one day he would have a normal life and the next day a meteor crashed into his roof. Before the man said a word, he cleared his throat and looked right at me.

"We have come to an agreement that the defendant is guilty of all charges."

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

"WHAT?"

My legs shot from the seat and I stared at the man like I was going to kill him.

"Y-you're guilty of all charges, Ms. West. We don't have much to go by, but f-from your past, you've been known to be h-hostile and it's enough proof to c-confirm that you're the one that m-murdered your step-mom."

I was sure that the breath was knocked out of me after his words sunk in. They didn't believe me. These messed up assholes didn't believe that I didn't kill anyone. I didn't even kill Delta for crying out loud! Not once in this entire fucking story did I end someone's life!

I looked at the judge and stared at her so pleadingly that I was sure that I appeared close to breaking.

"Please," I begged. "You have to believe me. I didn't shoot or kill anyone!"

The judge didn't even have her eyes on me but turned towards the bailiff and told him to handcuff me.

This had to have been a dream. A lot of fucked up stuff happened to me but this can't happen. Things are supposed to get better, not worse!

"Please! This isn't true! Please!"

No one listened to me as the bailiff approached my desk with handcuffs in his hands. My stupid lawyer just sat there and pretended to look at papers with incoherent writing on them. No one in this fucking room cared that I was actually innocent!

"Please!"

"Stop!"

A new voice echoed inside the room. It was new, it paused everyone's action because it was new, but it was definitely freaking familiar.

"Jade is innocent, and I have proof!"

Almost every head turned around to this new voice but I didn't need to because it was so obvious who it was just by the sound of his annoying vocal chords.

"And who are you?" the judge asked with surprise written all over her face.

The boy walked straight up to the judge and stared with his face scrunched up like he was looking into the sun.

"My name is Sinjin and I go to Hollywood Arts with Jade and Cat."

The sandy haired freak turned to look at me and waved a little. Since because his entrance was so random, I couldn't react how I normally would. I would have scowled or stared daggers, but I just stood there with my mouth dropped.

"Hi, Jade," he whispered and winked. Nausea quickly filled my head and I wanted to barf all over the kid.

"What are you doing here?" the judge questioned again. By the looks of her face, she was starting to become wary of Sinjin. Anyone would, I suppose. Just seeing his lanky self would cause any normal being to want to walk the opposite direction.

"I have proof that Jade didn't commit any crimes," Sinjin repeated. It was then that he helped up what seemed to be a video camera. Wait a second…why the hell would he have a video camera? If that little pervert was trying to catch me on film showering again, I was going to actually kill someone and have a reason to be in this court room.

"What proof is that?" the judge continued, unaware of my thoughts about the dirty things he did with that camera.

"The day that Jade and run out of the room with Cat, I followed her. I'm like Jade's almost boyfriend, so I was worried. She had a good head start on me so it took me a while to get to her and when I finally did, I saw things were happening to I took a picture of this…"

Sinjin started playing with his camera and when he got it to the right configurations, he handed it to the judge. The judge scrutinized what she was watching very carefully and just looking at her looking at the object made me even more nervous than before. Had Sinjin actually gotten the scuffle?

And then I remembered right after the fight when Cat and I were at the motel room and I was looking at The Slap page where everyone was talking about us.

…"_**Sinjin: Well, I was walking down the street near Jade's house because I saw her and Cat run out of the building at school. And then I saw Jade's car speeding the opposite direction, out of town."**_…

It seemed like he left out a very important part where he witnessed a certain shooting. Maybe he didn't mention it to save me from bad attention. Ugh! I hate feeling anything but bad feelings toward this geek!

"I see." The judge's voice snapped me out of my flashback and I lifted my head to find her nodding her head.

"Jade, you are free of all charges."

Those words practically deflated me. Although it took a second for me to realize that Sinjin just saved me from a life in jail, I sunk into my seat and released a heavy sigh.

"Wait, free of all charges? But, your honor, she killed my wife!" I totally forgot that my father was in the room.

"According to this tape, you killed your wife, Mr. West." The judge didn't even seem fazed by my father's outburst. The fact that there was proof now in the judge's hands made my dad's face grow red. He stood up from his chair and trudged his way over to the podium before yanking the camera out of the woman's hands and pressing the rewind button to watch what Sinjin had recorded.

"Mr. West!" the judge exclaimed at my father's brutality. Daddy didn't even bother to acknowledge what he did and continued watching. I just observed him and noticed that his expression was growing worse. It was only five seconds later that he realized that he lost this.

"This isn't possible. That freaking boy shouldn't have done this!"

My father turned to Sinjin with a look of utter outrage. I expected him to explode and yell a whole bunch of curse words, but I didn't expect the man to take the video camera and chuck it at the wall. The scene was actually comical and I almost started laughing but was able to keep the chuckles in. My dad had lost it. To confirm this, the judge motioned the bailiff to cuff my dad and he was forced out of the room yelling the stupidest shit like, "THIS IS A LIE! THE FOOTAGE WAS FAKE! YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!"

Thankfully, no one listened and his raging body was dragged out of the place.

I only heard myself sigh after that. So many thoughts were running through my head and the last one I wanted to think about was that I was safe. The other times I thought that, I was far from safe.

"Jade."

The sound of my name made me listen, but I didn't want to acknowledge that I was. If I was a normal human being, I would be in some form of comatose but with movable body parts, or non movable because of all the injuries I had to go through. What really made me depressed was that the voice wasn't Cat's, who was probably the only person that could even make my mouth curl up a little even in terrible times.

"You're free to go, Jade. There's nothing here to hold you right now. All charges of anything were dropped, but the matters of your guardian and where you will be living need to be discussed later. As for now, do what teenagers do and…get an ice cream or something."

I wasn't sure why the judge even favored me. No one in my life besides a very small amount of people even liked me. I practically reeked of evil and that makes others stray away, except for Sinjin, obviously. Speaking of Sinjin…I seriously had some thanks to give. And it was probably going to kill me.

The judge walked off to wherever judges go after condemning some poor sap into the big house. My lawyer next to me stood up with a gruff and murmured something about not getting paid enough for this shit. It almost made me giggle. It almost also made me believe that there was some good in this world, and just to prove it, Cat sat down in the seat where the lawyer used to be.

"Is it the end yet?" I asked the redhead. Like a magnet, my head moved towards her so that our eyes connected. She was no longer scared. A smile actually crept up on her face when I questioned her.

"Are you happy?" she replied and I knew exactly where she was getting at. I wanted so badly to just hug her right then and there. I wanted to feel physical comfort that I knew this girl could allow me. If I do say so myself, my eyes couldn't possibly keep away from lingering at her lips. They were so inviting.

"…almost."

The answer was good enough for the petite girl and she reached over to grab my hand before helping me up and making me follow her out of the hot seat. I didn't even remember that Sinjin was behind us waiting for his own thank you, which I could assume was a kiss or something. But nothing else mattered then, it was just Cat and I. That's all there needed to be.

* * *

><p>"I cannot BELIEVE that you would go all out of your way to pick up an alien dog!"<p>

"But you wanted one sooo bad and he was just the cutest little thing."

"That _thing_ has eighteen eyeballs and six arms! What kind of cute dog is that?"

Ever since Cat completely got rid of every single bit of drug in her system, her acting had been in tip top shape. She can still act ditzy, but that's exactly what it is: acting. If there's anything she does best, it is being such a weird yet interesting actress.

"I had to spend 700 kelombs for him and he does amazing tricks!" Cat was elated her prize that she got, which so happened to be Robbie on the floor wearing a green jacket with two extra limbs on it. He wasn't too proud of his role, but it suited well on him.

"Here, boy. Play dead!" Cat had a stick in her hand for who knows what reason and she started waving it at Robbie while saying her lines. Robbie rolled his eyes and lied down on the floor while groaning, "bark".

"No, no. Robbie. Alien dogs don't bark!" Sikowitz interrupted yet again to tell Robbie to perfect his alienness.

"Then what to alien dogs say?" he asked, annoyance seeping through his voice. He was still on the floor, not even bothering to get up to ask his question. The rest of us were chuckling to ourselves at his embarrassment.

"Possibly, more along the lines of 'blarg'. Since they do not have a normal language to speak, especially to human ears, they would be talking in gibberish."

"So, I have to speak gibberish?" Robbie questioned. I could already see his cheeks turning bright red at the knowledge that he was going to be making an even bigger fool of himself.

"Yes, Robbie. Now, quit stalling and continue!"

Robbie obeyed and put his head back on the floor murmuring, "blaaarg".

"Oh my gosh!" I pretended to be amazed at Robbie's lack of talent in acting and pointed at his curled body. "He disappeared!"

I glimpsed over at Cat to find her already staring at me, her smile reaching her eyes with ease. I knew exactly what she was thinking since nowadays, her thoughts were easier to guess. We had something very special planned at my house later.

"I told you that he was genuine! He's exactly what you wanted." Cat, in her character, was trying to give me some ridiculous present that couldn't possibly exist and I was supposed to be rejecting it by its complete absurdity.

"I didn't want _this_ though." I started walking towards the girl while Robbie the invisible alien dog was still on the floor. I was right at her shoulder when Cat said her line.

"Well, what did you want then?"

My response, which wasn't scripted, by the way, was me leaning closer to her and whispering so that only she knew that I wasn't going along with the plan, "A kiss from you."

I gently rested my hand on her shoulder as I said my actual lines, "Obviously not an alien dog! No one wants these things. They smell bad, you don't know what to feed them, and I'm pretty sure that at any moment, they will eat you."

I looked over at the redhead to find that she was blushing at my improv. Obviously, she wouldn't be blushing at me rant about hating alien dogs.

"Blaarrrarrggg," Robbie said…a line and supposedly made himself visible.

Cat was about to respond to the alien but then the bell rang to dismiss our class.

"Get up Robbie before your self esteem drops out of your butt," I told the curly haired boy while he stood to take off that ridiculous jacket.

Robbie sighed and stalked away, which left only Cat and I on the stage. As if on cue, Cat walked over and grabbed my hand, leaning into me so I could smell everything that was Cat. It was intoxicating to say the least. We started walking out of the classroom.

"Sooooo," Cat started in a singsong voice.

"So?" I smirked at her.

"It's been a month."

It has indeed been a month since the trial that let me walk away scott free.

"Yes, ma'am. I still think that around every corner, someone is going to come up to me and shove a gun right between my eyes."

I opened the door that led out into the parking lot so that Cat could skip merrily down the steps, only turning around to give me a frown.

"Why don't you believe that we're out of that and on our way to a happily ever after?" Cat looked so concerned that I almost wanted to give in and say how silly I was being, but it was the honest truth. The honest truth was all that I wanted with Cat. It's the least both of us deserve.

I shrugged as I responded, "Because I'm a pessimist. And you know, the dark side has cookies."

Cat laughed at that. I bet she got a craving for some right then and there. I hoped that it was for my own cookies, wink wink.

We finally reached my car and I opened the passenger side for her.

"How did you repay Sinjin, by the way? He doesn't really seem to be on your case anymore," Cat asked, gracefully reclining into the chair and buckling her seatbelt.

"Oh that? That was so easy. All I did was give him my bra and that shut him up."

"What?" When I sat in the drivers seat and buckled, Cat nearly jumped at me with questions practically ripping from her mind.

"Calm yo tits, sweetie. I bought a pair, ripped off the tag, sprayed it with my perfume and gave it to him. He only said thanks and inhaled the thing like it gave him oxygen. I bet he keeps it in his locker to sniff after every class. I also bet that if he could, he'd wear it on his face, but that would just get him even more unwanted attention."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his stupidity. That kid was all sorts of things, but he will never be manly.

"Oh," Cat breathed happily. "I guess that was nice…"

"Better than kissing him?" I set out the bait.

"Oh my gosh! So much better! No one is allowed to kiss you but me!" I knew she would fall for it because as much of a badass that I was, I do love Cat being territorial, just a bit. Cat noticed quickly how much I enjoyed her saying those words and she gave me a grin, a very seductive one, and leaned over me so close that her voice tickled the skin on my cheek. "And I can't wait to take you up on that offer you gave me during class."

"Hold on to your horses, Cat. I still have to drive us home before we get our mack on."

Thankfully it was a short drive. Cat was a very good motivator for me to speed the rest of the way to my house. Cat jumped out of the car and ran to the door, throwing it open and speeding inside after saying, "HI JADE'S GRANDMA!"

Yeah…I had to live with my grandma because since I was underage, I needed some adult supervision, blah blah blah. It's okay, though, because Gram apparently wanted a vacation home and it just so happened that my house had an opening for 'an adult who loves to give children yummy treats but hates to acknowledge their age most of the time'. Tonight though, my grandma will definitely acknowledge my age.

"Hey Gram. Going out tonight?" I asked when I entered my threshold and saw that Gram was dressed better than usual.

"Yes, dear. It was what we planned, right?" My grandma reminded me so much of my father, but thankfully was nothing like him. She understood what was going on in my head (to a point, luckily), and was aware that I needed love, not whatever the hell my father gave me.

"Thanks, Gram. Have a great time." I kissed her on the forehead and she gave me a wily smile.

"I know you will." And then she was gone.

Damn it, Gram, stop listening in on my phone conversations.

I shook my head and let myself smile. I was actually smiling more these days. Cat was getting to me, I knew it.

I took the steps to my bedroom knowing that was where the girl who lightens my heart was. For some reason, I was getting nervous. We both planned this day to be… adventurous, if there was any other word to put for it. So as I was edging to the door, excitement and fear rose in me. I grasped the doorknob, started inching it forward, but then the door slammed and I couldn't get it to budge.

"No! Don't come in here yet, Jadey. I want you to get ready, too."

Get ready? How was I…oh. Maybe getting ready wasn't a bad idea. She seemed to be getting ready herself…and I was oh so curious as to how she was doing it. And all of these thoughts started going to my head about what she was going to wear, or not wear, and warmth started leading to my center, and I just knew that I need to take a shower. I needed a shower. Really damn bad. Oh, that shower, and me needing it.

So, I went into the bathroom and took the longest shower I possibly could, extra cold, with a loofah. But even in that shower I couldn't stop thinking all the thoughts I kept at bay at school. Cat's moist lips, her round face, the red hair that taunts me and makes me want to thread my fingers through it. I finally had enough courage to absorb the sight of her body and noticed her curves, her perfect breasts and…The shower wasn't working right.

"I give up!" I spoke to no one at all. I figured that nothing was going to stop me from visualizing Cat the way that I was finally allowed to (but still a little embarrassed to).

I shut off the shower, grabbed a towel from who cares where, wrapped it around me and just opened the bathroom door to trudge to my bedroom, just to kick it open. Cat would've been off guard because it was only two seconds after I ended my shower, and I was still wet, so the girl couldn't have possibly guessed that I would show up so fast, if she needed to stop me from entering again.

She didn't need to stop me, though. When the door opened she was already laid out on my bed under the covers while absentmindedly playing with her hair and staring at the giant pair of scissors she gave to me ages ago.

She noticed me come in, but she didn't turn towards me. "I love that prop over there. Who gave it to you?"

I grinned and started walking over to her, still dripping water and still holding on to my towel.

"Oh, you know, just some girl."

"Some girl?" Cat's eyes met mine and there was a twinkle in them, but behind that twinkle, her eyes grew dark with lust.

"Yup. A girl with red velvet hair." I reached the bed and started taking off the covers. Immediately, I noticed that Cat wasn't wearing any clothes. That didn't stop me from continuing to unravel her up to her waist, my eyes took in her chest and I felt warmth down there.

"Beautiful brown eyes." I gained the courage to let my towel drop from my body and releasing all self consciousness that I had. Cat blushed on command and I blushed as well. We were both naked.

"Who kisses amazingly." I crawled on the bed towards her to prove that fact. Her lips tasted wonderfully on my own, but I didn't want it to get too heated too soon so I broke the kiss to speak again.

"Has a killer body." My hands carefully felt over Cat's tanned skin, first at her cheek, then down her neck and shoulder, right on top of her boobs. I felt her shiver and I knew that she just wanted me to do something, something bad, but something that felt so good. I gave her what she wished and let my hand feel her boob and rub her nipple. She moaned automatically and arched a little, her eyes closing and it just turned me on so bad.

"And is all around sexy." I finished and kissed her again while continuing to rub her nipple. The sounds that she produced only increased the warmth at my center and the kiss that started out as soft turned rough quickly. Her tongue pushed through my lips to play with my own, and I allowed her, but as our mouths were doing a dance, my hands started to explore that wonderful body I had just been talking about.

All I had to do was feel down to her hip with my other hand to know that she was nude to the world, and that only increased my own lust. I started rubbing that hand up and down her thigh. It gave me the response that I wanted.

"More, Jade." Cat's voice was husky and full of breath, but it didn't last long because she attacked my lips again. I complied to her, taking the hand that was on her breast and gliding it over her skin to her other thigh. I had a plan for this, as I always do. Knowing just how she would react, I kept one hand steady on her thigh and allowed the other to explore.

At first I teased around her, tickling the skin right under her stomach and on both thighs. Cat didn't seem to like that because she took one of her own hands and stopped my teasing. I chuckled into our kiss and just decided to go right at it.

As soon as I just touched the general area, Cat made such a guttural noise that I knew that I was starting to drip with heated wetness. Cat was already soaked, and if she had underwear it would've need to be wringed out. I started rubbing my hand up and down that region, and when I pressed onto her clit, her back arched more and she bit on my lip. I then left the whole area and just focused on that specific one, knowing that it would get what I wanted. I rubbed her button in circles and she started thrusting her hips into my hand at the touch. That was the whole point of my own hand trying to keep her down.

"More…" Cat muttered when I left her lips to start kissing and sucking the skin on her neck. It was so delectable and the smell on her skin drove me wild. It drove me so wild that I stopped with her clit and allowed one digit to enter her. Her hands grabbed onto my shoulders with a death grip and I knew that I was doing right. I moved my finger in and out of her and her hips were moving along to my motion. I then placed another in her. I could feel her body getting rigid and tense, and I knew that she was close. I wanted to just please her more, so I kissed down lower while I was still pumping my fingers. Her breath was wild and her hands started pulling at my hair. My lips met their goal and I took in the nipple that I wasn't fondling before into my mouth and licked at it.

"JADE!"

Ah, music to my ears.

Cat continued to thrust against me and rile at my touches. It didn't take too long for her walls to close in on my digits and her body having that one exciting peak where it just tenses with her face showing that she was experiencing pleasure.

"Jade…"

Her body fell to the mattress and her walls released my fingers. I slowly took them out of her and couldn't help myself; I licked my fingers. I couldn't believe the taste that her juices held. They were so…delicious.

"You…you licked your fingers?" Cat huffed. Her eyes were wide at the idea, but I only smirked at her.

"You taste so yummy, Cat." I crept my way up to kiss her on her lips so that she could have a little taste at the wonderfulness.

"No, you taste yummy," Cat replied. "Ready for round two?"

See, that's the wonderful things about being alone with your lover and you both being girls. You can go at it as loud as you want to, and you can go for more than one time before being exhausted.

I kissed the beautiful redhead's lips again and smiled into her. "I freaking love you."

"I love you too, Jadey," she whispered which made my heart flutter. "Now, let me love you more."

"Bring it, Angel."

**A/N: Considering that this is the end, I put my little tidbit all the way at the bottom so that people can enjoy this ending better. Honestly, I had writers block and realized that I was taking a whole lot of time not typing so, I sat my butt down, and made myself type all day. This is the result of it. Hope it didn't suck. This will also be the first and only Cade fanfiction that I will be writing. And I will be on hiatus for a while...But I will be writing up the chapters for my next story which I had mentioned earlier. I already planned out a lot of it, I just gotta type it. So all in all, I hope you liked this story and I learned that A/N's should be short, emotions should be strong, and I'm growing and knowing how this business works. Have a nice summer.**


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